TJ Parker promises more celebrations after winning national honors

CLEMSON – TJ Parker It was a busy Saturday.

Bagging your school records can often fill your mind with the joy of success. It’s also worth considering winning a match consistently enough to ruffle your opponent’s feathers.

Clemson has always emphasized the importance of doing the little things right in the heat of the moment, even if it just means remembering to celebrate.

Parker’s dominant day against Pittsburgh was the culmination of frustration for the sophomore. As he jokingly admits, the Tiger defense leaves the nation “almost in the bag.”

There was nothing “almost” in the second half of Parker’s match.

His play was dominant enough to rattle Pittsburgh’s right tackle, who at one point begged the referee for an answer. The crew chief had no choice but to continue rolling.

Parker knew as soon as this incident happened. He also knows that once his performance allows him to start talking on the field, that chatter is a sign that he is unstoppable.

“Yeah, I definitely do, and I’ll let them know that too,” Parker said. “Do you know what I’m saying? It’s a bad day when I hear crap on the field. I don’t stop. So he knows what I say every time I meet him in the second half? He sighs and everything, tries to talk to me, make friends, and I don’t try to hear it. I’m just trying to play my game. So once I get into that mode and keep going, it won’t stop me.”

While Parker was arguing with the Panther opposition, things began to look up.

As he continued to increase his numbers, he moved further into the zone.

“It’s like silence,” Parker said. “You don’t hear anything. You see what you see and what you need to do, and it’s like everything is the same, like you’re locked in. You’re locked into the game, but when you’re really in the zone, it’s like you can’t hear anything and it’s like free flow. There are things that you do, you know what I mean? It just happens and sometimes it says something about what you did and sometimes it doesn’t. This is similar to a free flow state. It was kind of good.”

Parker got so caught up in his game that he forgot to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

Enough for Barrett Carter to track him down and remind him that they celebrated their holidays.

Parker had plenty to choose from on Saturday.

“We celebrate on Thursdays, but when you come to the game, sometimes you remember that Barrett had to remind me that you have to celebrate,” Parker said. “I realized at that moment that I wasn’t celebrating any of those sacks. So, going forward you will see me celebrating more. Sometimes you do what you feel in the moment, but sometimes you have to understand that you need to enjoy it. So, Barrett is good at reminding me that you need to celebrate more, so you can definitely see some crazy holidays coming.”

Parker hopes he’ll have something to celebrate after Clemson’s season ends. Beating South Carolina and making the playoffs certainly deserves a memorable moment.