{"id":959128,"date":"2026-07-25T21:50:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T21:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/959128\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T21:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T21:50:20","slug":"the-clemson-insider-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/959128\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clemson Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEMSON \u2013 Jacoby Ford is, to put it lightly, very fast.<\/p>\n

So fast, in fact, that the former NCAA National Champion ran a 60-second dash faster than most people can put on a pair of socks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So fast, that he holds one of the 14 quickest 40-yard dash times in NFL Combine history.<\/p>\n

That speed is how, in his first game in a Clemson football uniform in 2006, Ford made four helpless Florida Atlantic defenders leap at his coattails on the way to a 92-yard touchdown kickoff return.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why his wide receivers coach Dabo Swinney gave him the nickname \u201cScooby,\u201d short for Scooby Doo, due to his never-ceasing, cartoonish, quick-stepping feet.<\/p>\n

Ford\u2019s propensity to speed, however, did not pay off one day this winter, when he was too slow to answer two calls from Swinney, now Clemson\u2019s head coach of almost two decades.<\/p>\n

Ford\u2019s phone buzzed. It buzzed again, showing Swinney\u2019s Caller ID.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, the former Oakland Raiders wide receiver was cleaning his Boca Raton, Fla., house \u2014 one that he shared with his wife, Nicole, and daughters Luna and Zara.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the Florida native wrapped up his cleaning, he checked his phone log. Two missed calls, no text.<\/p>\n

That was weird.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended up calling because he didn\u2019t text me, which I thought was different because he usually doesn\u2019t do that,\u201d Ford said. \u201cSo my antennas were up. I called him back, left a voice mail. I didn\u2019t really know what to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

It pays to be quick.<\/p>\n

Minutes later, Swinney ended the game of phone tag\u2013probably the only kind of tag he could win against Ford\u2013with a call, and an accompanying song.<\/p>\n

\u201cScooby, Dooby, doo, where are you?\u201d Swinney crooned their inside joke.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The coach took a beat, concluding his song, then stopped Ford in his tracks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you ready to come home?\u201d Swinney asked.<\/p>\n

The Tigers\u2019 leader was offering his former player\u2013one that stuck with him through a rocky interim term as head coach, and rescued him from a quickly heating seat with a game-winning overtime catch against No. 8 Miami in 2009\u2013a chance to coach at Clemson.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes sir,\u201d Ford responded, through smiling tears.\u00a0\u201cI just had some tears of joy with the fam. I mean, my daughter didn\u2019t know what was going on at the time, and the newborn didn\u2019t know, obviously, either. But you know, it was a beautiful call, and it was just so surreal, just to be able to come back. It\u2019s a place I\u2019ve wanted to be back at for a while now.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his six year NFL career that included stints with the Raiders, Tennessee Titans and New York Jets came to a close, Ford transitioned into the coaching profession in 2018. He trained NFL-hopefuls for the Combine with Clemson alum Tony Villani at XPE sports, focusing on 40-yard dash preparation.<\/p>\n

Next, before leading West Boca Raton high school to two consecutive state titles as a wide receivers coach, he held the same position at his alma mater, Cardinal Newman High, where he scored 10 receiving touchdowns as a senior.<\/p>\n

At this point, Ford has spent the majority of his life in Florida, but he always made sure to keep in touch with the people that make Clemson \u201chome,\u201d including Swinney\u2019s three sons, wife and parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know many people that can just go to his house and be around him and his family,\u201d Ford said. \u201cJust to be able to have that relationship with him and Kathleen and Will and Drew and Clay. That whole family, super thankful for them. The whole family I love and that\u2019s who I call family here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, as an offensive player development and assistant wide receivers coach for the Tigers, Ford will get to work with one of the highest-rated groups of wideouts in the country, a unit that features All-American hopefuls T.J. Moore and Bryant Wesco Jr., among others.<\/p>\n

But, maybe in an even rarer situation than coaching two of college football\u2019s most elite pass-catchers, Ford will also get to work with co-wide receivers assistant Will Swinney, and wideout Clay Swinney, two \u201cfamily members\u201d that he knew long before they could run or explain slant or hitch routes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew them as kids, now they\u2019re men,\u201d Ford said. \u201cWill\u2019s married, Drew\u2019s married, Clay will be married soon, so it\u2019s literally watching my boys grow up. It\u2019s awesome to see. It\u2019s beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Swinney\u2019s call, with the prospect of bringing his young family to Clemson permanently, Ford quickly headed north to the Upstate of South Carolina. In January, he was officially announced as one of 13 new Tiger coaching changes or additions ahead of the 2026 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t think of a better place to be,\u201d Ford said. \u201cI\u2019ve really seen the growth there. This was my last place that I came to visit, and I fell in love with it when nobody was here. I mean, it was a ghost town. Everybody was gone. There was nothing to do to sell me on, but Clemson sells itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford would use his All-American speed to race home every time.<\/p>\n

\"\"Clemson assistant coach Jacoby Ford during Clemson\u2019s Orange & White Spring Game on Saturday, March 28, 2026 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. (Bart Boatwright\/The Clemson Insider)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEMSON \u2013 Jacoby Ford is, to put it lightly, very fast. So fast, in fact, that the former…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":959129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[19416,1318,19419,7130,1317,1315,1316,19417,62,19418,67,132,68,15613],"class_list":["post-959128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-clemson-insider-podcast","tag-football","tag-gymnastics","tag-hero","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-noonan","tag-sports","tag-track-and-field","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wednesday"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116982831340702564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=959128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}