The safeties position group has a lot of names and a lot of versatile options for position coach Mickey Conn to work with.

That starts, really, with Khalil Barnes, who likely will start at nickelback or free safety and has made a career out of making big plays for the Tigers. As a freshman in 2023, he became the first Clemson player in the Dabo Swinney era with multiple forced fumbles and multiple interceptions in a freshman season.

Barnes has 101 tackles (5.5 for loss), 11 pass breakups, seven interceptions, three forced fumbles, a sack and a fumble recovery (which he returned 42 yards for a touchdown) in 27 games, making 21 starts. That’s a LOT of production.

He’s joined at nickelback by juniors Shelton Lewis and Ronan Hanafin, a former wide receiver who also can play strong safety, along with redshirt freshman Noah Dixon.

The safety group has a lot of other moving parts, including graduate Tyler Venables and junior Kylon Griffin, who both have gotten a lot of snaps during their careers. Ricardo Jones made some contributions last year as a true freshman, while third-year sophomores Rob Billings and Kylen Webb add depth, along with redshirt freshman Joe Wilkinson.

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