It has been over a year since the man most responsible for his Clemson career passed away. D.J. Reader has accepted that finally, after months spent wondering why.

So he goes into the start of camp today with a renewed focus, a renewed energy, a renewed confidence, knowing his time to start has finally arrived. His father, David, is not here to see it. But D.J. Reader believes everything his dad taught him brought him prepared him for this moment.

Because David Reader taught his son everything -- he home-schooled him for several years in elementary school. He went with him to football practice, baseball practice, basketball practice, going over the finer points. He taught him to open his heart to others, to be generous, to always give.

D.J. Reader understood. He wanted to give to his dad, in need of a kidney transplant last summer. His dad refused, starting dialysis treatments early so there was no way his son could be a kidney donor. A week before he died, David Reader challenged his son.

"He told me, 'Look, son you’ve got to be ready. I’ve been training you since you were 1 year old to be ready for the day that I’m gone,'" D.J. Reader recently recalled. "You have to impact this world and make it a better place with the tools I’ve given you."

David Reader died one day before D.J. turned 20. When his mom delivered the news, D.J. Reader was crushed. But his mother remained stoic on the line.

"She just reiterated what my dad had always told me, 'to whom much is given, much is required,'" D.J. Reader said. "That situation was given to me. There was nothing I could do to control it. It was required of me to get over it as a man and move on. I’m honored that I wear the same last name as my father and the same first name. I’m a spitting image of him, and I take pride in that. It’s a blessing."

Still, D.J. Reader says most of last year was "a little cloudy." It took midway through the football season for him to accept what had happened.

"I said, 'He wouldn’t want me moping. He’d want me to pick up because he’s never moped over himself,'" Reader said. "I watched him lose his mother, and he would never shy away from a challenge. So he taught me that young, and I was like, 'You know what? He’s not coming back, but he’s here with me every day and all I can do is honor him and make the best of what I have."

That means having a huge senior season. Reader is set to become a full-time starter at defensive tackle on a completely revamped Clemson defensive line, one that lost all four starters -- including two to the NFL draft.

There are those who look at the new-look line and wonder how the Tigers will fare, a year after ranking as the No. 1 defense in America.

"We plan on improving," Reader said. "We don’t plan on going backward. We’re excited about the opportunity, and we’re going to go out there and shake a few people’s heads who didn’t quite believe in us this year. We’re playing with a little chip."

Reader is playing with much more.