Note: The following appears in the Florida State football gameday program.<\/p>\n
For Clemson wide receiver Luke Stubbs, the journey to wearing the Tiger Paw has been anything but ordinary. A lifelong Tiger fan who grew up attending games in Death Valley, Stubbs always dreamed of playing under the bright orange lights. But it took three years of perseverance, faith and unwavering belief to finally make it happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI originally chose Clemson because I wanted to attend a big Southern school. When I toured, everyone was super sweet. I loved the idea of Southern hospitality. It felt like home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stubbs\u2019 path to the team came through the walk-on process, which he described as \u201ca three-day tryout that ends with being placed on an inventory list\u201d before earning a call-up. He did not make the roster his freshman year, and during his sophomore year, he was put on the inventory list. But his persistence paid off this past summer when he received a message from Clemson\u2019s director of player personnel, Mike Dooley.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe texted me saying they wanted to bring me back to see if I could join the team. I\u2019d been here for three years, and to finally get that chance to call him and then talk to Coach (Dabo) Swinney was a surreal moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now a junior, Stubbs\u2019 story serves as inspiration to every player chasing a dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cI prayed countless times to make it. I never thought it was going to happen, but it did. My advice is simple. Even when it seems impossible, don\u2019t give up, because it still might.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stubbs\u2019 continued persistence paid off and contributed to his favorite memory as a part of the team when he felt the rush of running down the Hill against LSU in the 2025 season opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the most insane environment I\u2019ve ever experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Off the field, Stubbs stays grounded thanks to his parents and girlfriend.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the last three years, my parents have been through every walk-on tryout, every call, every time I didn\u2019t make it, every workout I went to, practices and training just to get on the team. My mom has never once let me believe that I wouldn\u2019t make the team. I would call my mom, and she\u2019d say, \u2018Well, you\u2019re going to make it next spring. You\u2019re going to make next fall.\u2019 I appreciate having the support group believing in me and not letting me think that I wasn\u2019t going to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stubbs also finds joy in simple things, such as spending time with his support circle and his German Shepherd, Apollo, who just turned one.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s my pride and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the wide receiver room, Stubbs credited teammates Antonio Williams, T.J. Moore, Cole Turner and Chase Byrd for helping him grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are able to do things that I could never do, but I also know there are techniques and things they do that I can replicate. I can copy and do it to the best of my ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super close with a lot of the wide receivers, and I\u2019ve developed as a football player so well, because I asked them very mundane and random questions, like how to do a \u2018stripe break,\u2019 or what\u2019s the best way to get out on a route, and they say it so simply, and that was when I put it into practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for his goals this season, Stubbs keeps them simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to graduate with a strong standing, get better every day and hopefully score a touchdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
From walk-on tryouts to playing under the bright lights of Memorial Stadium, Stubbs\u2019 story embodies the values of grit, work ethic and commitment. They serve as a reminder that many dreams take time to come true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Note: The following appears in the Florida State football gameday program. For Clemson wide receiver Luke Stubbs, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[17066,16203,21736,21734,21739,6786,21737,21735,21733,589,57,2239,21738,21740,11790,9248,21741,232,234,233],"class_list":["post-38903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-clemson","tag-clemson-football","tag-clemson-sports","tag-clemson-tickets","tag-clemson-tiger-sports","tag-clemson-tigers","tag-clemson-tigers-news","tag-clemson-tigers-sports","tag-clemson-tigers-tickets","tag-featured","tag-football","tag-general","tag-official-clemson-tigers-sports","tag-official-gear-clemson-tigers","tag-schedules","tag-scores","tag-stat","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}