Darien Rencher has been at Clemson since 2016, and in all but one of those seasons, his position coach has been Tony Elliott.
So the Tigers' senior running back was thrilled to see his offensive coordinator move on to a huge opportunity as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers earlier this month.
"It made me really happy," Rencher said Monday's Cheez-It Bowl Day for Kids in Orlando. "Coach Elliott's a social guy, so seeing him on social media the past couple of weeks, all the content has been amazing. I'm super happy for Coach Elliott. There's nobody more deserving and I think the (Virginia) program is a perfect fit for him."
Elliott, who played for the Tigers, started as a Clemson coach in 2011 and was named co-offensive coordinator at the end of 2014. He helped the Tigers win two national championships and reach six consecutive College Football Playoff semifinals.
Elliott was a candidate at both Virginia and Duke this month. He officially replaced Bronco Mendenhall in Elliott's first head coaching job. He had interviewed for several openings over the last few years, but Elliott never wanted to let coaching rumors be a distraction while the Tigers were playing for ACC and national titles.
Elliott is the third Dabo Swinney assistant to get a head coaching job in the last two years.
"It's really cool to see the coaching tree (grow)," Rencher said. "The coaching tree has been pretty stagnant. Now you've got the Oklahoma (with Brent Venables), the USF (with Jeff Scott) and Coach Elliott at UVA. It means the world because to me I've seen him be very loyal and true to the process. Now to get an opportunity like that, it's very cool to see."
Want to join in on the discussion? 100% FREE! Interact with fellow Tiger fans and hear directly from publisher Zach Lentz, deputy editor Brad Senkiw, recruiting analyst Jason Priester and staff writer Will Vandervort on any subject. Click here to become a member of the ALL CLEMSON message board community today!
More must-reads: