Dabo Swinney and Clemson football have fans in Tennessee.

Coach Dabo Swinney has been a traveling man since winning his first National Championship and one of his stops was a visit with wide receiver commit Tee Higgins . Last Tuesday, Swinney and co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott were in Oak Ridge, TN to watch Higgins play basketball.

Among the crowd on Tuesday were Heather Jenkins and her 9 year old son, Casen Jenkins. Heather is the Assistant Principal at Linden Elementary and Casen is Higgins’ #1 fan. Casen is such a big fan that he has his own custom made Tee Higgins football jersey which he received from Santa last Christmas.

Casen’s love for his favorite Oak Ridge player has also helped form a friendship between Camillia Stewart, Higgins’ mom and Heather too. Every game the two mom’s generally see each other because their sons meet after games. Heather talked about the meetings, “Tee makes a point to talk to him after every game. Not all kids at Tee’s age are as humble as he is, especially with the attention that he’s getting.” Even on Oak Ridge Senior night, Higgins was able to meet with Casen and make it a special night for him too. During the game, he wore a pair of Clemson football gloves, and after the game he signed them and gave them to Casen. Heather said that Casen keeps those gloves on his pillow every night.

With the football season over, the two friends now see each other at Oak Ridge basketball games. On Jan 17th, Casen also got to see Jeff Scott and met Dabo for the first time. Casen and Heather had previously met Scott, but it was their first encounter with Dabo. So what was it like when the head coach of the national champions was in the gymnasium? Heather gave me her assessment of the atmosphere, “The atmosphere was just so exciting when he entered. You could feel the excitement throughout the gymnasium. The smiles on the kids’ faces, kids getting autographs, the reactions of everyone-it was really something to sit back and watch. It was just an exciting night for all of Oak Ridge.”

Luckily for Casen, he was able to meet and talk to Swinney with a little help from Camillia. It may have been the first meeting between the two, but Swinney definitely knew who Casen was. He told him that he had heard about him, and they even talked about one of Casen’s school assignments. That third grade assignment was for Casen to write a personalized version of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream” speech. Dabo had already seen Casen’s speech, because Tee and Camillia had shared it on their official visit plus the speech had also been retweeted by Coach Scott.

What a special moment for him? Dabo Swinney took time to read his speech. Heather had this to say about the Clemson coaches.

"They both just seem like very down to earth , very nice men. I was impressed with Dabo’s interactions. I know some other coaches have come to watch Tee, and kept away from the crowd. Dabo actually made his way up on the top row right beside Tee’s mom among the crowd. He was really a part of the atmosphere."

And what does she think about the Tennessee native leaving the state and his choice of the Tigers.

"Coming from a Tennessee girl, I feel like Tee’s made the best choice for him-that’s sort of obvious. Clemson has a lot to offer. Like I said, I’ve been very impressed with coach Scott and Dabo. Not just with Tee, but how they interact with the fans and with the kids too. As an educator, that sorta stands out to me. I think it’s exciting that Tee’s getting this opportunity, and I think he’s going to represent Oak Ridge well."

In addition to the Clemson coaches, Heather and Casen also got to meet the other Clemson commit from the volunteer state, Amari Rodgers. Rodgers is from nearby Knoxville Catholic High, and the coaches visited him earlier that day. He stopped by Oak Ridge to watch his friend and future teammate, Higgins hoop it up.

Casen is ‘All In’ and he has been since his favorite player committed to the Tigers on July 4th. Clemson football gained another ambassador for the program on that day and maybe another future player. He’s an athlete himself, and Jeff Scott has already seen some footage of Casen on the gridiron through a tagged tweet. How many third graders can say that a college coach has seen them play? And what does he have to say about it, “I’m being recruited by Clemson.” They do recruit earlier these days, and he definitely has a leg up on the other third graders across the country.

If he was here today, Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud to know that Casen’s dream can realized. He can definitely be like his favorite athlete and race doesn’t matter. Tee Higgins is headed to Clemson to pursue his own dream, and Casen hopes to follow the same path. Heather would be happy if that happens, because she really likes Clemson, Dabo, and Scott. Will he get to Clemson one day? What does she think?

“You never know, if they are still there. The predictions around here are that Dabo may head to Alabama in a few years. But I think he has a good thing in Clemson and won’t leave that anytime soon.”