Tigers' Chancellor returning home with heavy heart

CLEMSON -- Chris Chancellor has eagerly anticipated Saturday's game at No. 8 Miami since last spring, when safety DeAndre McDaniel remembers Chancellor trading his personal ticket allotments to accumulate a block of Miami tickets.

Each player receives four tickets per game, and Chancellor has acquired roughly 30 seats for friends and family to watch the senior corner return home, and Clemson attempt to win a second straight ACC game.

The homecoming was doused with tragedy over the weekend as the cornerback opposite Chancellor at Miami Edison High School, Connecticut defensive back Jasper Howard, was stabbed to death on the Connecticut campus early Sunday morning.

Chancellor will wear No. 6 -- Howard's college jersey number -- at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Pro Player Stadium, a game televised by ABC.

"His relatives, friends called me (early Sunday) but I was asleep," Chancellor said. "They said 'Hey man you know what happened to Jas?' … I saw it on ESPN."

Like Chancellor, Howard, an All-Dade County selection as a senior, left south Florida for a faraway college to "get away from the lifestyle" Chancellor explained.

They had witnessed horrors of the gang violence, and heard crackles of gunfire at night growing up in impoverished districts of Miami like Liberty City, named for the Liberty Square housing projects.

"A lot of my homeboys and friends got killed," said Chancellor, who graduated in August with a degree in sports management. "They grew up living the wrong lifestyle and they had to pay the price for it."

Chancellor bounced around Miami during his childhood but said he stayed out of trouble thanks to his family's imposed curfew and direction from Edison football coach Corey Bell, now the director of football operations with the Hurricanes.

"He stayed on me to come out to practice, doing what I have to do to be successful in life," Chancellor said. "He played a major role in me choosing Clemson."

Chancellor's childhood dream had been to play for Florida State, despite living for a time less than a mile from Miami's former home, the Orange Bowl.

Yet, the 5-10 corner turned down a scholarship offer from the Seminoles, and a sales pitch from then Seminoles assistant Kevin Steele now the Tigers defensive coordinator -- to choose Clemson, along with his brother Demerick, who later transferred to North Carolina A & T.

"People encouraged me to get out of Miami, to get out of Florida," Chancellor said. "Clemson is a great community everybody is in with each other, it's not a violent city."

Chancellor makes his homecoming Saturday as an NFL prospect, holding a college degree and a heavy heart.

Scott pleased with offensive line

Freshman center Dalton Freeman missed an assigned on his first play as a starter Saturday but from then on out "was pretty good" according to offensive line coach Brad Scott.

With Freeman holding down center, Mason Cloy was able to spell Thomas Austin and Antoine McClain at each guard position while also backing up center. Though demoted to reserve status, Cloy logged more snaps than Freeman.

Scott said McClain had his best performance, pancaking several defenders and showcasing his power potential as a blocker.

"He gets better every week," Scott said of McClain. "It was his best game springing off the ball."

Reserve tackle David Smith's role keeps expanding as he split time with Landon Walker.

Reach Travis Sawchik at tsawchik@postandcourier.com and check out his Clemson blog at www.postandcourier.com/blogs/tiger_tracks.