Ian Schieffelin recalls the process that led to him joining Clemson football

Julius Peppers. Charlie Ward. Jimmy Graham. These are just a few former ACC greats to play both college basketball and college football.

Clemson‘s Ian Schieffelin is joining that elite group this season, as he will spend his final year in college playing football for Dabo Swinney. Schieffelin recalled the process that led him to joining the Clemson football team this offseason on Monday.

“I don’t know exactly,” Schieffelin said about who reached out first about the opportunity. “I’m pretty sure one of my dad’s friends called him and reached out about the idea of it. I don’t really know how it came up but it was one of those things where I was told about it when [Dabo Swinney] called me that night.

“I really thought about it and I had some good meetings with NBA teams and good little trajectories about where you could be in four to five years. But overall I prayed on it and went with my gut and decided on joining the football team.”

Schieffelin, a 6-8, 240 pound senior from Atlanta, played four seasons of college basketball under head coach Brad Brownell from 2021-2025. He started 99 games and averaged 8.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists.

“I think there are a lot of skills that translate if you’re a big, thick kid,” Swinney said during a roundtable discussion with North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick and ESPN’s Rece Davis back in May. “And then you see a lot of guys like DeAndre Hopkins for example. He was a basketball player. Tee Higgins was much more of a basketball player. Mike Williams, much more of a basketball player than football player. We took Mike Williams from Lake Marion, SC and he was a jump ball guy. That’s it. But he really developed the skills. [Tee] could have played Division I basketball. DeAndre Hopkins did play Division I at Clemson.

“All those skills translate. That’s why Ian [Schieffelin] wants to play tight end. I’m like he’s either going to be a tight end or a defensive end. I was like ‘I don’t know if you have good hands,’ but his dad was like ‘oh he’s got good hands.’ He handles the ball all the time.”

Schieffelin played four seasons of high school football at Grayson High School in Loganville, Georgia. After a prolonged break however, he is trading in the basketball shoes for cleats. Clemson opens its 2025 season at home against LSU on Aug. 30. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm on ABC.