Cavaliers Ready to Give Elliott win in Return to Clemson

CHARLOTTE — Chico Bennett, Jr. started his college football career at Georgia Tech. In fact, his first game was at Clemson in 2019 when he had four solo tackles as a true freshman.

Bennett spent two seasons overall at Georgia Tech before transferring to Virginia in 2021. That following season, he returned to Atlanta for the first time since leaving there after the 2020 season.

It was an emotional night for the Cavaliers linebacker, but he made the most of it. In his first game against his former school, he made a career-high seven tackles and recorded his second multi-sack effort of the season en route to ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors.

Virginia won the game 16-9, which meant the world to Bennett. Now he wants to return the favor to his head coach when the Cavaliers visit Clemson on Oct. 19.

Tony Elliott, of course, played at Clemson, and later became the Tigers’ offensive coordinator under Dabo Swinney. He was the architect of the Clemson offense during its national championship seasons and six straight College Football Playoff runs.

Now Elliott is coming home, and his players want nothing more than to get a win for their head coach.

“I can only imagine his excitement, especially when you coached some of the players and now you know you are on the opposite sideline. It is exciting. It will be great to get him that win,” Bennett said.

Quarterback Tony Muskett agrees.

“It is a great environment. They are a good football team. I have a lot of respect for them,” Muskett said. “We definitely want to get it for him, but also focusing on doing our job and getting a victory.”

Bennett says it is going to be a fun game. He remembers his first and only experience in Death Valley. He said Death Valley was “tight”, though he says he did not get scared of the lights.

“It was so energizing,” he said. “You really could not hear nobody. Even the person right next to you. He would try to say something to you, and you still could not hear him.

“It was fun, and it will be fun for our other guys to get out there. Again, it is another full circle moment. My first year I played there and now my last year I will play there.”

And the only thing that could make it better is to get a win for their head coach on his first trip back to his old stomping ground.

“I think to get a win, any win, man, we’re going to celebrate. We also understand how difficult it is to win football games at the college football level and in the ACC,” Elliott said.

“To go back to Death Valley, obviously being an alum, there’s going to be some emotion prior to the game. Once the ball is kicked off, I have a responsibility to these young men sitting here and the men on the travel squad to make sure I take myself out of it and be the best I can be so these men can be successful and have an opportunity to earn victory on the field.”