COLUMBIA, S.C. — It was not even six months ago when CJ Spiller was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
On Monday, Spiller entered another Hall of Fame as he was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame although he was a part of the 2020 class.
Spiller played during the Tommy Bowden era and left Clemson as the ACC Player of the Year. He became the first player in the history of the Walter Camp All-America team to be first or second-team All-American at two positions in the same year.
Spiller still holds ACC single-season and career records for all-purpose yards, posting 2,680 in 2009 and finishing his career with 7,588, which was second-most in FBS history at the time of his graduation.
A three-time All-American in track and first-team strength All-American in 2008. Spiller had an eight-year NFL career from 2010-17 after being the ninth overall selection in the 2010 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. His NFL career included tenures with the Bills, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, and he was a Pro Bowl selection in 2012. He and college teammate Jacoby Ford remain the only Clemson products ever to record multiple rushing touchdowns, multiple receiving touchdowns and multiple kick return touchdowns during an NFL career.
Not every great player can segue into being a great coach but Spiller hopes he can do just that. He is gearing up for his second season as Clemson’s running backs coach. Spiller first got his taste of coaching as he worked with the track and field program at Liberty High School for four seasons.
“Once I did that for a couple of years I realized, ‘Hey, this is what I’m called to do for the rest of my life,” Spiller said.
“Because you never know what you’re called to do once you’re done playing professional football. Once I started helping those kids, I realized this is what I want to do – to give back and to try to help those kids go off and achieve their dreams as well and give them some of my life lessons that I learned along the way.”
In 2020, Spiller would return to Clemson as an unpaid staffer on Dabo Swinney’s staff before moving into a full-time role prior to the 2021 season.