NSD 2022: Trinity's McClinton gets chance to follow in family footsteps
Trinity’s Mac McClinton plans to walk on at Auburn University, following his father and grandfather to the Plains. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
There were other offers out there to play college football, but there was really only one choice for Mac McClinton.
On Wednesday, the Trinity senior followed his heart and the family tradition and held a ceremony at the school to announce he would accept an offer as a preferred walk-on at Auburn University, where his grandfather Buddy had earned All-American honors for Ralph “Shug” Jordan and his father David had walked on for Terry Bowden.
“It’s one of those opportunities that is hard to turn down, especially after having your dad and granddad play there,” McClinton said. “Being a third-generation (player) is something that doesn’t happen very often anywhere, so I thought if I got that opportunity, I’d really have to think hard on it.”
Buddy McClinton was a standout safety for Jordan in the late 1960s, so it was a tough act for David to follow in the mid-1990s. As a result, he made sure to let Mac make his own decision, even though the newest Tiger had once penned a commitment letter to the coaching staff as a ninth grader to practice for this particular moment.
“We tried to encourage him to do whatever was the best fit for him,” David said. “We did not at any time in the process push Auburn. Obviously, we have a great deal of pride in the school. I love the school, I have strong connections there, so we were excited when he decided this is what he wanted to do but we really tried to leave that decision to him.”
The 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior was a standout on both sides of the ball for the Wildcats when he was healthy, but battled nagging injuries the last two years and settled on the offensive side of the ball in the last half of the 2021 season.
That earned him offers from Birmingham Southern, Presbyterian, Murray State, Samford and Kennesaw State, among others, but at Auburn it wouldn’t be surprising to see him line up at safety. After all, it’s a family tradition.
“That’s what I got recruited as, a nickel safety,” Mac said. “Coach (Derek) Mason, who just left, is the first coach I met and then Coach (Zac) Etheridge and Coach (Bryan) Harsin. They said they saw my last few games here after I came back from an injury, on the offensive side of the ball, so I could get switched. I’ll figure it out when I get there.”
Auburn coach Bryan Harsin made the offer in early December, but McClinton waited a month before announcing his decision and was weighing scholarship offers last weekend before finally deciding to follow the path he had always wanted to follow in the first place.
“I had to keep my mind on it,” Mac said. “I had dealt with a lot of injuries in the past and going into this year I had a back injury that had kept me sidelined during the summer and I recovered from a torn PCL (knee ligament) last year. I missed three or four games with that and two this year with my back, but my focus never shifted from playing at the next level.”
David, who last took the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 1995, admitted Mac’s decision “means a lot, but mostly it just means a lot because I’m so proud of him. It’s not because he’s at Auburn or playing the same position or wearing the same number, it’s just because he marked it as a goal years and years ago and chased it. The fact that it is at Auburn is icing on the cake.”