Orhorhoro sees plenty of fight in his teammates, tells them to keep pushing

Orhorhoro says he wants his teammates to keep pushing.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Sep 26 07:00:06 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Ruke Orhorhoro’s message to the rest of his teammates is simple. Just keep pushing.

Clemson fell to 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the ACC with Saturday’s overtime loss to Florida St. With that loss, many preseason goals are either off the table or close to it. But there’s plenty to play for, and Orhorhoro saw plenty of fight from his team in the loss.

“I mean, it's tough, man, because who doesn't want to win? I mean, you have to think big when playing a game like this, but it's very tough,” Orhorhoro said Monday. “But just seeing how these guys handled it and how they fought, that's just so encouraging to me. The way they fought and their effort from the kickoff to the overtime, just seeing them fight just showed us that we have all the tools. We really do have all the tools.”

Orhorhoro said the players need to learn from their mistakes and keep pushing.

“We just have to keep believing and keep pushing and keep putting our best foot forward because things don't go the way that you want them to go,” he said. “Because if things went the way I wanted it to go in my life, I'd be a superstar point guard in the NBA right now, and half of us wouldn't be sitting in this room. You just have to learn from that, and just keep building and keep pushing. That's the message I’ve just been trying to push to them this week. I've really been trying to put it on myself and find ways that I could get better because there's a lot of things I could have done better in that game.

“I saw the fight in the team. I wish you guys could have been on that sideline, just hearing what was going on. It was just very encouraging to see guys like TJ Parker and Peter Woods and Shelton Lewis. Shelton, he doesn't stop jumping all the time. Just seeing those guys encourage us and as we encourage them, seeing them feed off of our energy, it's very good to see because this team is young. The older guys, we've seen what it looks like, and we know what it looks like. It's just very encouraging to see those guys battle adversity and just keep fighting. I just love the toughness from this team.”

Quarterback Cade Klubnik said that several players spent hours on their own at the football facility Monday, and Orhorhoro said that commitment to improve is what will carry the program going forward.

“We're just so hungry. We just always want to find ways to get better,” Orhorhoro said. “Whether that's taking care of your body or watching film, just coming in the next day and seeing a lot of guys here is just a good sight to see, honestly, because you have to take ownership sometimes on what you did wrong and what you could do better. It's a quick turnaround. You have to flush the game, and you have a game to play seven days later. So if you're sitting around moping around for days and days, it's going to carry on to the next game.

“I just didn't want that feeling from a tough loss like that at home to carry on to the next game. It was just good seeing a lot of guys bounce back from it quicker than that. It was a 12 o'clock game, so we had all night to watch the film and do whatever you needed to do to get your mental back right. But it was good to see guys back in here on Sunday working and grinding for the same thing we want this week, which is a win.”