2006 Clemson - SL team sheet

SOS: 520

FBS Record 8-5

The 2006 Tigers finished the season with a loss in the Music City Bowl 28-20 to Kentucky but are more known for one of the lesser-known players - a Freshman defensive back named Ray Ray McElrathbey. His story was the focus of the Disney film, Safety. The summer before the 2006 season, his 11-year-old brother, Fahmarr, came to Clemson to visit. That visit lasted a month. There were problems at home, as the boys’ mother had just moved back to Atlanta, Ga. from Las Vegas, Nev. and was fighting a drug-addiction problem. The situation led to him gaining custody of his 11-year-old (now 12) brother Fahmarr; they lived in an off-campus apartment. The NCAA granted him an exemption to the extra-benefits rule that allows Clemson coaches' families to help him care for Fahmarr when it comes to travel to school and other basic needs. The NCAA also allowed Clemson to establish a trust fund for Fahmarr at a local bank to provides for Fahmarr's basic needs.

Ray Ray was named Person-of-the-Week by ABC World News Tonight in September of 2006. In December, he was the recipient of the Keith Jackson Award of Excellence on the ESPN College Football All-America show. He won the 2006 FedEx/FWAA Courage Award, an award he received at the 2007 Orange Bowl.