Clemson’s Defensive All-Star Candidate – Keith Adams

Nov. 10, 1999

Keith Adams Linebacker – 5-11 – 203 – Sophomore – College Park, GA

• Leads the ACC with 134 tackles in eight games (14.9 per game). No other ACC defender has more than 114 tackles.
• Leads the ACC with 27 tackles-for-loss and 11 sacks. No other ACC player has more than 16 tackles-for-loss and eight sacks.
• Needs one tackle-for-loss to establish an all-time ACC record for tackles-for-loss in a season.
• Has totaled at least 11 tackles and one tackle-for-loss in all nine games of 1999.
• Tied a Clemson record (Chester McGlockton’s) with sacks in each of Clemson’s first five games of 1999.
• Nicknamed ‘Termite’ by Defensive Coordinator Reggie Herring. Adams plays the weakside linebacker position and utilizes his blazing speed and quickness from all angles.
• One of 15 semi-finalists for the Football News National Defensive Player-of-the-Year Award.
• Selected ACC Defensive Lineman-of-the-Week four times in ’99 (Virginia, North Carolina, Florida State, and Duke), more than any other ACC defender.
• Leads Clemson in quarterback pressures with 15.
• Accomplished all these feats being only 5-11 and 203 pounds. Adams did not start a game until this season and played only 176 snaps at linebacker as a true freshman in ’98.
• Enhancing the linebacker reputation at Clemson that has seen the likes of Levon Kirkland, Ed McDaniel, Anthony Simmons, and Wayne Simmons (all drafted in the ’90s), among others, succeed in the NFL. He is on pace to have the finest season in Clemson history for a linebacker, never mind he is just a true sophomore

The new king of linebackers at Clemson was anointed Saturday when Keith Adams, who broke three school records and tied another, was hoisted on the shoulders of teammates Robert Carswell and Braxton K. Williams at the end of the third quarter.

Adams set school records for sacks in a game with four and tackles-for-loss with six in Clemson’s 58-7 victory over Duke. He recorded his 11th sack this season, breaking the mark of 10.5 set by Adrian Dingle last year. He also collected his 27th tackle for a loss, tying the single-season record held by William Perry.

Adams terrorized Duke quarterbacks Spencer Romine and Bobby Campbell, sending them to the turf early and often. He repeatedly told the duo that as long as he kept blitzing, the pounding would continue.

“Once I step onto the field I just turn into a crazed man, I guess,” he said.

Whether he was speeding around the end to blindside an unsuspecting quarterback or coming straight up the middle to force a bad throw, Adams was everywhere.

Those kind of plays have become the norm for Adams, who recently was named a semifinalist for defensive player of the year by the Football News and is drawing comparisons to the great linebackers of Clemson’s past.

“When I step on the field I try to lead by example,” he said. “I just try to be up in as many people’s faces as I can.”

His effort and exuberance raises the bar for his teammates, according to head coach Tommy Bowden.

“I think it elevates the play of your defense, because guys try to mirror his performance,” Bowden said. “It also elevates the play of the rest of your team, to see somebody always making plays, not only making plays, but making big plays.”

Printed November 7, 1999 By Louis Garmendia, Special Correspondent to The State

Keith Adams 1999 Game-by-Game Stats

* – ACC game

Keith Adams Career Stats