Note: The following appears in the Duke football gameday program.
Former Clemson defensive back and longtime NFL player Coty Sensabaugh is being honored this weekend as the recipient of the 2025 Brian Dawkins Lifetime Achievement Award. It is presented each year to a former Tiger football player who has consistently demonstrated the qualities of leadership, community service and other high qualities that are consistent with excellence since graduating from Clemson.
The award is named after Brian Dawkins, the Clemson All-American who had nine Pro Bowl seasons in a 16-year Hall of Fame career in the NFL. Dawkins was the first recipient in 2013.
“Coty has a heart to give back,” said Dawkins. “He has been unselfish and an example that you can have success on the field, but also in the community in a way that is tangible here in America and across the world.”
Sensabaugh was one of the great overachievers in program history. The Tennessee native came to Clemson as a two-star recruit during the fall of 2007. After redshirting the 2007 season, he became a consistent contributor in the secondary, playing 52 career games from 2008-11.
“Coty came here when I was an assistant coach and redshirted his first year, and he did not become a starter until in 2011, his fifth year,” said Head Coach Dabo Swinney. “But he kept working. He kept the faith and kept going. He became a graduate. In his first year as a starter, he was co-captain in our first 10-win season and first ACC title team.
“He was a leader and represented what ‘sticktoitiveness’ is all about. He got better and better and became a fourth-round draft pick, then played eight years in the NFL.
“Today, 14 years removed from this program, he is a special person. This is gratifying for me personally to see him win this award.”
Sensabaugh thanked many Clemson coaches and former teammates in accepting the award, including Swinney.
“Coach Swinney always gave profound after-practice sermons. One day prior to my senior year, he said, ‘If it is to be, it is up to me.’
“I reflected on that and it made me think I was just making excuses as to why I was not playing as well as I should. It meant so much to me that I got it tattooed on my wrist. I needed to control what happens to both my destiny and my future.”
Sensabaugh did just that, and as a senior in 2011, he played 993 snaps as a starting cornerback, still the record for a defensive player in Tiger history. That year, he led the team in pass breakups (13).
At the end of the season, Sensabaugh was named one of the team co-captains. His leadership was a big reason Clemson won its first ACC championship in 20 years.
In the spring of 2012, Sensabaugh was a fourth-round draft pick of the Titans. He went on to play eight years and 105 games in his NFL career from 2012-19.
Sensabaugh was known for accomplishments on the gridiron and off during his NFL career. In 2017, he was one of five NFL players to receive the Daily Point of Light Tribute Award, one of the most outstanding volunteer service awards in the philanthropic community.
He was featured on ESPN for his partnership with Food for the Hungry, an organization that provides fresh-water systems to communities in Haiti.
Perhaps the best example of Sensabaugh’s dedication to serve others took place in July 2016. He married his wife, Dominique, also a Clemson graduate, in Atlanta, Ga. They asked wedding guests to make a contribution to Soles4Souls, an organization that provides shoes to the needy. Instead of going on a honeymoon, the couple went to the Dominican Republic to hand out shoes to people in need.
Sensabaugh has also raised money in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of his late brother, Jamaar, who died from cancer at the age of 16.
Sensabaugh has been consistently active in his support of Clemson’s P.A.W. Journey program.
He has also formed the Sensabaugh Family Foundation, which serves to improve vulnerable communities through financial development, domestic and global philanthropy and youth empowerment.
