TJ Parker: Cooking on and off the field this season

TJ Parker says he's one of the better cooks on the team (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Mar 19 07:00:02 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – TJ Parker plans to cook on and off the field this year.

Parker, Clemson’s sophomore defensive end, fashioned a stellar freshman campaign with 41 tackles (12.5 for loss), 5.5 sacks, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery in 457 snaps over 13 games (three starts). His 12.5 tackles for loss in 2023 broke Clemson's true freshman record (12.0 by Myles Murphy in 2020) and tied for the national lead among freshmen.

His sights are set on an even better second season, but he still finds time to relax by making his favorite foods. What are his specialties?

“Depends. For me, I like ribs, so I take a two-day process of marinating my ribs and a special sauce that I won't release,” Parker said. “I had to make my own because XT (Xavier Thomas) everybody knows XT had the best barbecue sauce on the team, so I had to make my own marinade that I've been trying to work on for a little bit. I'm still working on it, but I take a two-day process for my ribs, and I smoke 'em back home. I use a Green Egg, but I'm in the process of trying to get one here. So, I take cooking with a passion. So, if I cook for you, that means I really enjoy your company.”

Parker declined to delve into too many details of his secret recipe.

“It's like a sweet heat almost. I am not going to say too much, but it's definitely it got a heat to it,” Parker said. “If you don't like spicy food, you might not enjoy 'em, but I'm good on the heat factor of my marinade. It took me forever to try to make it; I'm still in the process of fixing it. I'm down to the small details. So, I have a few taste testers in my circle, so they can vouch for you. You can ask me about a teammate who's ever had my food. Man, it gets serious. Everybody asks me every day for a plate...So, everybody knows I can cook.

“I can cook chicken. I am a good baked mac and cheese guy. I can make really anything. I can grill steaks. I like mine medium well...Fried chicken. I can do hibachi. Spaghetti, like the basics and stuff like that. Cooking is a skill, but I'm saying you can always learn. You never mastered it until you get to the top and I am not at the top yet, but I definitely say I'm the best on the team.”

Fans will notice that Parker has changed jersey numbers—he has switched from the No. 12 he wore last season to the No. 3 formerly worn by Thomas.

“I wore it in high school, so it was just going back to my roots. At first, I was probably going to stay with it...A lot of people around me told me, you might as well stay with it,” Parker said. “I made it a good year with 12, but I got the opportunity to switch back to my high school jersey, so I was like, why not? It just so happened that he (Thomas) wore the number, but I look at it as a respectful thing. A lot of great players wore No. 3, so why not continue the tradition of having a great defensive end in the No. 3?”