The Clemson safety room dealt with nagging injuries in 2023, yet it set up for the Tigers’ young talent to break out in a major way.

Coming into the season, all the expectations sat on Jalyn Phillips and RJ Mickens. The pair delivered, but missed a combined six games. Phillips, who came in after his breakout the year before had a quiet season, but not in a bad way.

He finished with 26 tackles and four pass breakups over nine games, with the aforementioned injuries keeping him from being the star of the show. Mickens was more of an enforcer for this group, adding 42 tackles and three breakups.

Still, it would be wrong to grade this group without mentioning the big play struggles at times and that has to fall on the veterans. That was eliminated late in the season as a couple big runs in the win over North Carolina were the only massive mistakes in the last month.

Now, we get to talk about the youngsters. It all starts with Khalil Barnes and what a year he had. Playing a mix of safety, nickel and even SAM linebacker, he was the definition of a ball hawk.

Nine pass breakups alongside three forced fumbles and interceptions showed his instincts for Wes Goodwin’s defense. The 38-tackle total isn’t bad either. The unsung hero of the room was a redshirt freshman as well in 2023.

Kylon Griffin only saw 157 snaps, but finished with the sixth highest defensive grade on the team according to Pro Football Focus. He allowed the lowest passer rating among Clemson’s safeties and had interceptions in back-to-back games against Georgia Tech and Notre Dame.

As  a whole, the Tigers’ safeties room did its job in 2023 but it wasn’t the star of the show. That’s no slight to the group, but I can’t justify giving them an A given what it took the other positions to  earn such.

Final Clemson Safeties Grade: B+