Tiger Walk-Ons

The Tiger Town Times

Sunday, September 28, 2014

TIGER WALK-ONS

By: Katharine Peery
Clemson's success on the football field yesterday was due in large part to three new walk-ons that just joined the team this week. These three new Tiger walk-ons just happen to be triplets from Simpsonville, SC. Stokes, Ryan and William Peery gave the Tigers a huge boost with their undeniable athletic abilities yesterday in the win over the University of North Carolina.

All three boys are currently attending Clemson on a full academic scholarship but did play football, basketball, baseball and soccer in high school. "We just thought we'd talk to Dabo [Swinney, Clemson's head football coach] to see if there were any openings on the team. He let us do a mini try-out and told us we could suit up this week. We had no idea if we'd actually get any playing time" says Stokes, the oldest of the three brothers.

The stats these triplets put up yesterday are impressive. Stokes (WR) had 6 receptions for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ryan (FB) had 146 yards and 1 touchdown and William (LB) had 1.5 sacks and 4 tackles for a loss.  The entire stadium erupted on Ryan's touchdown, which he ran into the end zone with just 28 seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter. The student body was yelling "Peery! Peery!" in homage to Ryan's touchdown and the contributions made by Stokes and William, too.

On being carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates, Ryan, the middle triplet exclaimed, "It was such a rush! It really was a great feeling to be welcomed to the team and have that camaraderie develop so quickly."

In Dabo's press conference after the game, he made sure to mention how important it was to the team and the game to have the Peery boys on the updated Clemson roster and how much of an impact they made today for the Tigers. Coach Swinney further said that all three of them showed huge leadership capabilities and named them team captains for next week's game.

"I'm so proud of my brothers. We all had such a great time out there today and are grateful for the opportunity to play on the team and represent Clemson University" said William, the youngest triplet.

I think it's safe to say that we'll be seeing and hearing a lot more about these incredible brothers as the season goes on.

Since they weren't on the team for official team pictures for the season, here are a few pictures of the talented triplets taken yesterday before the game by their mother.

 

 

*Disclaimer: pretty much everything you read in this "article" is completely made up. The Peery triplets are not on Clemson's football team...yet. ;)