This weekend, the Texas A&M football team will travel to South Carolina to face No. 1 Clemson in Death Valley.
This will be the first time this group of Aggies has made the trip to Clemson, and several players expressed their excitement at the prospect of taking on Clemson in Memorial Stadium.
Junior offensive lineman Jared Hocker said he doesn’t know what to expect from his first game in Death Valley.
“I’ve never been there so it’ll be hard to say, but I’m just ready to get at them and play our best game,” Hocker said.
Death Valley is a familiar venue for A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher, who made the trip many times while he was the head coach at Florida State University.
“It’s one of the best places to play in college football,” Fisher said. “It’ll be loud, a lot of orange, a lot of happy fans. They’re a great fan base, classy fan base, very loud and hard to go play [in front of].”
Fisher said on-field communication will be more difficult than usual in Death Valley.
“It’ll be a much harder challenge going on the road this week and playing in a hostile environment where the noise [level is high],” Fisher said.
Sophomore running back Jashaun Corbin said he expects it to be loud on Saturday, but he doesn’t think it will have a big effect on A&M.
“Just don’t make the game bigger than what it is,” Corbin said. “It’s going to be loud, but we’re used to that.”
Playing in the Southeastern Conference has prepared the team for the trip to Clemson, junior quarterback Kellen Mond said.
“A lot of road games, you’re going to play in a hostile environment, so I’m not for sure about Death Valley,” Mond said. “We know it’s going to be loud, and Coach Fisher has played there multiple times. I feel good, and we’re going to have a whole week to prepare.”
Fisher said he doesn’t expect Hurricane Dorian to have any effect on the team’s travel plans. While he was at FSU, Fisher dealt with hurricanes, and he has a plan for this weekend if needed, he said.
“We’re going to go unless other things come into play,” Fisher said. “I’ll let them decide that. I can’t worry about things [I] can’t control. We’ll have an alternate plan if it starts to come to that.”