Clemson football has a representative on the Thorpe Award watch list

With preseason award watch lists coming out this week, Clemson football fans are getting increasingly excited for the start of the 2025 season.

The Tigers have been well-represented on essentially every single watch list that has been released from the Outland Trophy to the Maxwell Award and the Butkus Award's watch list was revealed on Wednesday and two more Clemson stars earned some deserved recognition.

Also revealed on Wednesday was the coveted Thorpe Award's watch list. This is awarded annually to the nation's most outstanding defensive back.

And Clemson has a representative on the list.

Avieon Terrell was Clemson's lone preseason representative on the Thorpe Award watch list and there's a good chance he is one of the finalists for the major award.

Terrell makes the most sense as Clemson's lone representative on the watch list because he's the one guy in that defensive backfield that has received most of the love this offseason. He's expected to do big things and he's even been projected a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

That's assuming he opts to leave after his junior season.

Terrell leads a talented defensive backfield and just had his breakout season as a sophomore, racking up 58 tackles, five tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions, and 12 pass deflections. He was one of the top lockdown cornerbacks in the ACC and many are talking about his as an All-American candiate.

Clemson has never had a Thorpe Award winner but could this be the year that changes? Terrell will have something to say about that.