Levon Kirkland

Levon Kirkland returned to Clemson in December 2023 as Clemson Football’s Name, Image & Likeness Coordinator.

Kirkland’s decorated playing career at Clemson spanned 1988-91 following a redshirt season in 1987. A 2001 Clemson Athletics Hall of Fame selection, Kirkland was selected in 2019 to the Clemson Ring of Honor, the highest honor Clemson Athletics bestows.

Kirkland recorded 19 sacks, 40 tackles for loss and seven fumble recoveries for the Tigers. He was a standout on Clemson’s No. 1-ranked total defense in 1990 and was named as a Butkus Award finalist that season. One year later, he finished third on Clemson’s No. 1 rushing defense and was a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award in addition to collecting first-team All-America honors from Kodak/AFCA, Sporting News, Scripps Howard and Walter Camp in addition to second-team selections by UPI and Football News.

Upon his graduation from Clemson, Kirkland embarked upon one of the most decorated NFL careers by a former Tiger. A second-round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1992, Kirkland was a two-time All-Pro selection and two-time Pro Bowler in 1996 and 1997.  He played 11 seasons in the NFL, including nine years with the Steelers and one each with the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles.

Over his 11 NFL seasons, Kirkland accumulated 1,029 tackles and recorded six seasons with at least 100 total tackles over 176 career regular season games with 155 starts to earn a selection to the NFL’s 1990s All-Decade Team. He also played in 13 playoff games including Super Bowl XXX.

Kirkland has coached in various capacities at multiple levels of football, including at the high school level in South Carolina, as a defensive coordinator at Florida A&M and as an outside linebackers coach with the Arizona Cardinals. He has also served as an educational speaker for the National Collegiate Scouting Association to teach student-athletes nationwide about the college recruiting process.

Prior to returning to Clemson, Kirkland served as Vice President of Development for the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame. The native of Lamar, S.C., was a 2008 inductee into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame and a 2017 inductee into the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame.

Following his NFL career, Kirkland completed his bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2004. He added a master’s degree in psychology in 2023 at the age of 54. He and his late wife, Keisha, have a daughter, Kennedy. Kirkland also has a son, Zach.