The Clemson Insider · Mar 3
Fully Healthy, Watford Looking to Earn Role
CLEMSON — Ari Watford is hoping his second season at Clemson proves to be more fruitful than the first, at least from an on-field standpoint.
A knee injury played a role in Watford redshirting during his debut season in 2025. He did finally get on the field for seven snaps against Furman last November. While he may not have been contributing on the field, that doesn’t mean lessons weren’t learned.
Watford chose to use his first season at Clemson as a learning experience, soaking up as much as he could.
“How I can affect my teammates, my team, my coaches,” Watford said. “I learned the playbook. I was able to dial in and study my plays and learn my role in the defense.”