Spiller's return

C.J. Spiller is headed back to Clemson this weekend, and it just so happened last night that Dabo Swinney talked a good bit about other instances of ... well ... Spiller returning to Clemson.

Swinney was doing his normal Wednesday post-practice briefing with the media, and he was talking about advising juniors on whether to leave for the NFL or remain for their senior years. He brought up the day in January of 2009 that Spiller shocked almost everyone by announcing he'd use his final year of eligibility.

After the recorders were turned off and the formal portion of last night's press conference ended, I asked Swinney if he had any idea what Spiller was going to say when Spiller walked to the podium that day. The auditorium in the McFadden Building was packed with not just media, but almost all of Spiller's teammates who stood at the back of the room. It's one of the heavier moments I can recall in almost nine years of covering this football program.

I thought he was gone. Cris thought he was gone. Just about everyone thought he was gone -- including Swinney. But we all also knew Spiller was his own guy, which lent a dose of suspense to the proceedings. You thought you knew, but you knew you didn't totally know.

Swinney told us last night that he met with Spiller a day before the press conference and Spiller told him he thought he was going to stay. There was still a bit of indecision, though, so Swinney wasn't certain. And then, 10 minutes before the press conference was to begin, Spiller walked into Swinney's office unannounced and started bawling.

Spiller told his coach he had to go pro. He told him he was facing some external pressures that were weighing heavily on his mind. His mother was pushing hard for him to leave.

Swinney is a great salesman, one of the most feared deal-closers in college football. But during that moment, he didn't sell anything other than Spiller making a decision not for his mother, not for Swinney, not for Clemson, not for anyone but Spiller.

Spiller gradually calmed down and wiped the tears from his face. He told his coach, "Let's go," and walked across the hall to the auditorium. He left Swinney with no inkling of what he was going to announce. Swinney followed and walked into the back of the auditorium, telling people he thought Spiller was gone but he wasn't certain.

Wow.

You all know what happened from there. And surely you all know just how crucial that decision was to Clemson winning nine games and its first Atlantic Division title in Swinney's first full season.

Spiller put on one of the greatest individual performances ever in that season's ACC title game against Georgia Tech, earning MVP honors on a team that lost 39-34. He got my Heisman vote not because of some homerish affinity for him, but because I truly believed he was the best player in college football that year whose wide-ranging impact on games was not fully appreciated by most voters across the country.

And there is zero doubt he was the most important Clemson player in a long, long time. Once upon a time, in January of 2006, it was unheard of for Clemson to go into Florida and pry a coveted recruit from the clutches of the Gators and Seminoles.

Swinney had to fend off the home-state enemies again a year later, after Florida won the BCS title and went after Spiller. As Swinney said yesterday, Spiller was gone in January of 2007 as he returned to Clemson after Christmas break following a disappointing end to the season that included losses to Kentucky, South Carolina and Maryland.

Spiller's old Oldsmobile Aurora was headed toward Clemson, but only so Spiller could pack his bags and turn it right back toward Gainesville. Swinney hastily cut short a trip to Texas and came back to Clemson to re-recruit his star player, sitting with him for hours in a discussion that ended with Spiller opting to remain with the Tigers.

These moments were monumental in the progression of a program Swinney eventually took over, and that's certainly not lost on Swinney as he reflects on it.

If there's no Spiller signing with the Tigers in 2006, and even if he joins Urban Meyer and the Gators a year later, there might be no Sammy or other guys Clemson has mined from the Sunshine State.

What a player. What a story.