Former SC high school teammates face off on big stage with Clemson, Notre Dame
The last time Notre Dame and Clemson met in the Carolinas, two recruits from South Pointe High School were in the stands at Death Valley watching what turned out to be a classic.
High school teammates Nick McCloud and Derion Kendrick made the 130-mile trip with family members from Rock Hill to Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. McCloud’s father, Nakia McCloud, and Kendrick’s mother, Shenekia McClinton, joined them.
The four watched from the stands as Clemson pulled off the 24-22 victory on a rain-soaked night in the Upstate.
“I learned that night that when it rains at a Clemson game, it really, really rains,” McClinton said, laughing. “We were just trying to stay dry. Halfway through the game I went inside. It just got too much for me. I didn’t have my proper rain gear.”
The Tigers and Irish will meet in the Carolinas once again on Saturday, with an ACC title at stake. Only instead of a rain storm, the weather is expected to be partly cloudy. And instead of watching from the stands, McCloud and Kendrick are expected to play critical roles in the game.
McCloud, a senior, and Kendrick, a junior, are likely to be two of the four starting cornerbacks in Saturday’s ACC championship game, which will be played 30 miles from South Pointe at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
McCloud, who is two years older than Kendrick, pushed and motivated Kendrick during high school and helped him get to this point. After taking different paths, the two close friends now find themselves in similar spots as integral parts of two of the top teams in the country.
“That was really who took me under their wing and showed me everything,” Kendrick told The State this week. “We were very close, with each other every day. He was just trying to keep me on the right path like he was doing, staying in school, getting good grades, and also doing it on the field.”
A slow process
McCloud was a bit of a late bloomer in terms of blossoming into a Power 5 recruit. He was 6-foot-1, 175 pounds as a high school senior and had good size and speed. However, he didn’t get a ton of Power 5 interest. Neither Clemson nor South Carolina offered McCloud, and he ended up signing with N.C. State’s class of 2016.
Nakia believes his son was overlooked in part because he played multiple positions at South Pointe High, instead of focusing on one. McCloud played mostly receiver early on for the Stallions, before working as a defensive back later in his career.
“He didn’t play defense until his senior year. If he’d have played defense his junior year, he definitely would’ve gotten more looks,” Nakia says.
Nick spent four seasons at N.C. State, starting 20 games during his time in Raleigh. His best season came in 2018, when he started 11 games and had a pair of interceptions. McCloud was hurt for much of the 2019 season and redshirted. He then entered the transfer portal after the season and landed at Notre Dame, thanks in part to South Carolina native and former Irish cornerback Troy Pride’s advice.
“He gave Nick some insight into how good the defense was going to be. He was like, ‘Nick, if you go there, knowing you’re skill set, No. 1, you’ve got a chance to play right away. And No. 2, y’all might have a chance to win the natty,’” Nakia recalled. “I was like, ‘Troy, come on man.’ He was like, ‘Nah, Mr. McCloud, I promise you. Next year’s team is going to be better than this year’s. And this last year we only lost two games.’”
Nick has fit in well with Notre Dame’s defense, starting nine of 10 games this season for the undefeated and second-ranked Irish. He has 25 tackles and an interception and has also recovered a pair of fumbles. Both of McCloud’s fumble recoveries came against No. 1 Clemson when the Irish upset the Tigers last month.
“I think he’s fit in very well, in terms of our culture and understanding the standards here at Notre Dame,” Irish coach Brian Kelly said earlier this year. “Each program is different. Each program has its own kind of standards, if you will. I think he’s done a terrific job of meeting those standards here and fitting in very well.”
A helping hand
While McCloud didn’t get a lot of early interest from big-time schools, Kendrick was offered by Clemson during the summer after his freshman season, a rarity for a Tigers staff that is typically patient when it comes to extending offers.
“It was a blessing,” Kendrick said. “It was a nice feeling just knowing that they were taking a chance on me. There’s people that don’t get offers until 11th or 12th grade. For example, Nick didn’t really get offers until late. So I was really blessed being able to watch him and go through that process.”
Kendrick says he was also blessed to have McCloud watching after him in his first two years of high school.
Shortly after Kendrick arrived at South Pointe High, it was clear he was a special athlete. He played safety and receiver for the varsity team as a freshman, helping the Stallions to a state title. When football season was over, Kendrick took his talents to the basketball court and played varsity hoops, immediately stepping in and becoming one of the better players on the team.
McCloud, who was a junior when Kendrick was a freshman, played both sports alongside Kendrick, and the two became close.
“Me and DK are so close it’s honestly scary. He’s like my little brother,” Nick says now. “He used to ride home with me every day, pick him up, go to workouts, take him home every day. We played football and basketball together in ninth grade and 10th grade. We won a state championship together. It’s just a lot of events that built up to making us as close as we are.”
Kendrick is described as a fiery competitor who wears his emotions on his sleeves. While his competitiveness is on display every Saturday, it used to be even more evident during his high school days. At times it could get Kendrick in trouble. That’s when McCloud would step in.
“I had a couple of games in high school to where I got in a little altercation or whatever,” Kendrick recalled. “He was always there first, telling me to do the right thing, keep your head and stuff like that.”
McCloud provided the same kind of advice away from the field.
“Any time he felt like I was slacking or whatever, he used to call me, text me or pull up on me and let me know, ‘You need to get right’ and stuff like that,” Kendrick said. “I always appreciated him for that.”
Becoming a star
Kendrick eventually signed with Clemson, the school that gave him his first offer, as a five-star prospect in the class of 2018.
After playing receiver, quarterback and cornerback during high school, Kendrick started his college career as a receiver for the Tigers. He caught 15 passes for 210 yards as a true freshman, helping Clemson to a national title.
Kendrick made the transition to cornerback during the spring of 2019 due to injuries on Clemson’s roster and hasn’t looked back. He was named All-ACC in his first year as a college defender and has established himself as one of the best cornerbacks in the ACC.
“I was up there at spring practice one time, and coach Swinney said something about him being one of the biggest competitors they’d ever had. He was playing receiver at that point, and I said, ‘Coach, if you wanna see him really compete, put him on defense,’” former South Pointe High coach Strait Herron recalled.
“As soon as he got the shot to play cornerback, coach (Jeff) Scott called me and said, ‘Coach, this kid’s a first-rounder on defense.’”
Clemson’s former co-offensive coordinator could very well be proven right.
Several mock drafts have Kendrick projected to be a first round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, including recent ones put out by CBSSports and The Athletic. Kendrick doesn’t yet know if he will turn pro after this season, but he appears NFL bound at some point.
“That’s the plan. Just joining the others that’s from Rock Hill and then making my own legacy,” Kendrick said, referencing former South Pointe stars Jadeveon Clowney and Stephon Gilmore.
A homecoming
The nation will be watching Saturday’s top 5 showdown between Notre Dame and Clemson. While Kendrick will do everything he can to help the Tigers come out on top, he admits that it’s cool to have someone he considers an older brother playing on the other side.
“We’re happy to see each other, playing on this type of stage, especially with where we come from,” Kendrick said. “I’m proud of that. We’re competitors as well. We want to win, so we’re gonna play our hearts out.”
Nakia, who drove McCloud and Kendrick to the Clemson-Notre Dame game at Death Valley five years ago, will be in the stands on Saturday in Charlotte.
“To see both of them out there, you can’t beat that,” he said.
McClinton will be there, too.
She’s thankful the game is only a short drive away after going all the way to South Bend last month.
Both parents will be rooting for their kid and for their son’s team to win. And they each will be cheering for an opposing cornerback.
“They motivated each other. I’ve got mad love for D.K. I treat him like he’s mine. His nickname to me, I call him D.K., but I call him son as well,” Nakia said.
Added McClinton: “D.K.’s always looked at Nick as a big brother, definitely a positive influence. ... I always just get so emotional because the guys have just really grown up right in front of my eyes. Just to know that they were just playing together on that high school level, competing for a championship. … D.K. won four straight and they won twice together. So just to see them now. ... It’s unbelievable.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 10:39 AM with the headline "Former SC high school teammates face off on big stage with Clemson, Notre Dame."
