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How a family crisis helped top Clemson football signee Amare Adams find his motivation
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- How a family crisis helped top Clemson football signee Amare Adams find his motivation
CLEMSON — Amare Adams was in the ninth grade when he found his purpose.
Adams' mother, Lorraine Kirkland, was involved in a devastating car accident on May 19, 2022. A vehicle struck the front-right side of her car while she was on the way to pick up his two younger siblings from school.
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Kirkland survived the accident but suffered a broken femur bone in her thigh and a broken hip. She was instructed not to put any pressure on her right leg. Doing so would risk damage to the hip that could leave her unable to walk again.
"The Lord spared her life, and I thank God for that," said Adams, who is Clemson football 's top signee in its 2025 recruiting class , in a video to his local church. "When I saw that, it just clicked."
This happened as Adams began receiving interest from colleges after his freshman year at Central High School in Pageland, despite struggling academically. Because of Kirkland's condition, she and Adams' father, Stan Adams, agreed to allow Amare to move in with him and attend Lake City High School for his sophomore year.
Despite moving about 80 miles away, Amare checked in consistently on his mother, who moved in with his grandmother to recover. He would tell Kirkland not to worry about various tasks. It reached the point that Kirkland had to tell him it was OK, that she needed to do things on her own to recover.
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"When you see the person who raised you in a situation where they're basically helpless, it affected him mentally," Kirkland told The Greenville News. "That motivated him to make sure his grades were great, to make sure he did everything in his ability at his best."
Kirkland attended every Lake City football game during Adams' sophomore year in a wheelchair. She progressed to a walking cane then to a full recovery in 2023. Her determination helped center Amare. He became a highly sought recruit as his grades improved and his play erupted in his junior year at South Florence High School, where his father had become an assistant coach.
Lorraine Kirkland (left) with Amare Adams (right) during a visit to Clemson. Adams committed to Clemson on Dec. 3, 2023.
Committed until the end: Amare Adams' recruiting journey to Clemson
Adams, 6-foot-4 and 285 pounds, comes from a sports background; both of his parents played basketball at Morris College. Amare also played basketball and competed in track and field in high school. Those activities helped him have high endurance; at South Florence, he rarely was removed from a football game.
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"For a guy as big as he is, he has an unbelievable motor," South Florence coach Drew Marlowe said. "The great ones are like that."
Clemson has always been on Adams' radar. His family was a mix of South Carolina and Clemson fans, and he attended a Clemson football camp while in middle school.
Amare Adams (left) with former Clemson defensive end K.J. Henry (right) at a Clemson football camp. Adams is Clemson's top signee in its 2025 class.
Adams, rated as the No. 1 player in South Carolina and No. 7 nationally according to 247Sports, committed to Clemson on Dec. 3, 2023. He remained committed despite seven recruits decommiting. His parents said schools pushed hard to flip Amare Adams, too. Stan Adams said many Power 4 programs lofted "all kinds of numbers" for Amare.
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"He chose Clemson, and he never backed off," Stan Adams said. "He is loyal to Dabo Swinney and (defensive tackles coach) Nick Eason."
MORE: Dabo Swinney explains why unlike other schools, Clemson football didn't cancel spring game
Amare Adams reminds Dabo Swinney of two recent Clemson football defensive stars
Adams was a staple for South Florence because of his game-wrecking ability. He possesses power, athleticism and great balance despite his size. As a senior, he recorded 75 tackles, including 13 for loss and six sacks in 15 games.
"Just watching him in mat drills and watching him run," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said, "he looks a little bit like Bryan Bresee as far as like that big-bodied athletic type dude, kind of freaky, but with some power of a Dexter (Lawrence). But he's more polished than Bryan was coming in here,"
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If Swinney's early assessment is correct, Adams has an NFL career waiting for him. Bresee and Lawrence both were drafted in the first round by NFL teams after spending three seasons with Clemson.
Amare Adams' Clemson football spring practice forecast
Adams is one of two defensive tackle signees from Clemson's 2025 class, joining Makhi Williams-Lee.
Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart are expected to command the positions. Stephiylan Green is an emerging contributor, then there's Vic Burley and two freshmen from last year, Hevin Brown-Shuler and Champ Thompson.
Still, Woods and Capehart both missed time last year with injuries and Swinney is not afraid to play true freshmen, leading the nation in total freshman snaps in two straight seasons. If Adams carries over his dominance from high school and adjusts to facing bigger offensive lineman, he could nab immediate rotational playing time in 2025 under new defensive coordinator Tom Allen .
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Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Why Clemson football's Amare Adams gets special motivation from mother
