Senior linebacker Barrett Carter, super senior (graduate) safety R.J. Mickens and redshirt senior (graduate) safety Tyler Venables appeared on the latest episode of Clemson Football’s 2 Right Turns podcast.

Among the topics the veteran defenders discussed is “unfinished business,” with each of them explaining in their own words why they decided to come back for another year at Clemson.

Here’s what they had to say:

Mickens: “I was really deciding between going to the NFL and coming back, and I just prayed about it a lot and talked to Coach Swinney and talked to Coach Conn, and just really had some time alone with my family and just felt like it was the right thing to do. Just felt like we had unfinished business, and we didn’t go out the way that I envisioned my career ending here, and just wanted to come back and really finish the right way. I just love this school and the people here and my teammates. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else, and I felt like it was the right thing to do.”

Venables: “I redshirted last year, I had hip surgery in July, and that was my plan once I decided to have that surgery – I was like, I’m obviously going to come back. I love this game and I love being here with my teammates and striving for goals and competing for championships and trying to be our best, and I love doing it at a place like Clemson under our leadership with Coach Swinney and all the staff and the coaches here. It’s really special, and it’s rare in the realm of college football today. It’s not normal to have these close-knit bonds, and I’m thankful that I have the opportunity to come back, and hopefully I can be an asset to this team. But I never thought about leaving. I didn’t really have any options to go anywhere or go to the NFL. So, I’m blessed to be able to come back.”

Carter: “Same thing as RJ – deciding between the NFL and coming back, and it was easily the hardest decision of my life. I was stressing, I was all the things – like, it was just so tough. But prayed about it. Went to lunch with Dan Lian. He’s one of the local preachers, and we were just catching up. But he told me something, and it was, ‘Don’t make a decision based off of fear,’ and that just sparked in my head, like yeah, I know what I need to do now. Like, Clemson is so special, but it’s the people that make it special, and I couldn’t leave yet. Like RJ said, we have unfinished business, and just want to go out on a better note. I want to graduate. If I left last year, I wouldn’t have graduated, and I want to be a captain too. So, I had some goals I want to come back and accomplish. But Dan Lian really spoke some wisdom into my ears.”

You can check out more from the segment of the latest 2 Right Turns episode below:

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