CLEMSON — Clemson football starting safety Ricardo Jones announced Jan. 3 that he is entering the transfer portal.
Jones became a starter in his second season with the Tigers, recording 39 tackles, a conference-high six interceptions and nine pass deflections in 13 games (12 starts) this season to earn third-team All-ACC honors. In his two-year Clemson career, he had 59 tackles, seven interceptions and 10 pass deflections in 25 games.
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He has two years of eligibility remaining.
Jones, a highly regarded player for Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, is the third Tigers safety to enter the portal, joining Khalil Barnes (starter) and Rob Billings.
These losses are on top of Clemson suffering two safety decommitments in its 2026 recruiting class and safeties coach Mickey Conn getting fired on Dec. 29.
Now, safety becomes a higher transfer portal need for Clemson. The portal closes Jan. 15.
Clemson has seven scholarship safeties: Ronan Hanafin, Kylon Griffin, Kylen Webb, Noah Dixon, Joe Wilkinson, Jakarrion Kenan and freshman Polo Anderson.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at DCarter@usatodayco.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Ricardo Jones, Clemson starting safety, enters transfer portal