Falcons’ Avieon Terrell out to prove he’s more than A.J.’s brother — again
FLOWERY BRANCH — A.J. and Avieon Terrell are best friends and football junkies. They have clean footwork and a toughness tied directly to their northeastern roots. They’re fluid, athletic and highly competitive, now tasked with shutting down both sides of the Falcons’ secondary.
Six years of age aside, where’s the difference? It starts with their voice.
“A.J. is the one that’s going to kill you softly,” Clemson cornerbacks coach Mike Reed told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Avieon is going to kill you and he’s going to tell you he’s killing you.”
Reed, who doubles as Clemson’s assistant head coach, spent 2017-19 with A.J. and 2023-25 with Avieon, leading them through practices and meetings. They move the same, Reed said, and compete the same. But their personalities differ dramatically, something Reed first noticed when adolescent Avieon went to his brother’s football camps at Clemson and remained true once he entered the team’s meeting rooms.
“A.J.’s quiet. He’s going to move through the room. He may not say a word,” Reed said. “Avieon is going to let you know he’s in the room, which is a good thing. You’re like, ‘Man, you’re directly opposite your brother. Your brother wouldn’t say anything.’ He’d sit over in a corner somewhere. You wouldn’t even know he’s here.
“Avieon, he’s going to let you know, like, ‘Hey, Avieon Terrell is in the building.’”
The Falcons view Avieon as “his own man,” general manager Ian Cunningham said after selecting him No. 48 overall in the 2026 NFL draft. Though he followed A.J.’s footsteps through Westlake High School in Atlanta and a three-year career at Clemson, Avieon built his own resume and has his own flair.
Long before Avieon finished high school and joined the Tigers, Reed knew he’d be a similar caliber player to his brother. Avieon’s blood flowed with competitive juices, and he grew up faster than most because he always joined his brother in more mature crowds. He played in older leagues and against better competition because he was more advanced. He had, in Reed’s words, more bite — and the same desire he does now: to prove he’s more than A.J.’s brother.
“Literally, he was a big dog trapped in a little man’s body,” Reed said. “And he had something to prove. He wanted to make sure that at the end of the day you knew who he was. You knew who his brother was, but he wanted to let people know, ‘Hey, I’m a baller, too.’”
Terrell wasted little time sending that memo to the college football landscape. He broke onto the scene as a true freshman in 2023, playing in all 13 games with five starts while notching six pass breakups and one interception. His football IQ impressed Reed. He’d spent so much time training with his brother and his brother’s teammates that the college game wasn’t too fast for him. He mimicked coaching tips quickly. Tell him once, and he processed it.
After getting his feet wet as a freshman, Terrell flourished as a sophomore. He started all 14 games, earning second-team All-ACC honors after posting 64 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and 13 pass breakups, the most by a Clemson player in a decade. He was the first Tiger in coach Dabo Swinney’s tenure — 16 years at the time — to force at least three fumbles and record multiple interceptions and fumble recoveries in one season.
Terrell entered his junior year as one of the nation’s highest rated corners. First-year defensive coordinator Tom Allen needed only one practice to discover why.
During Clemson’s spring installation period, Allen put in an oft-used man coverage concept, which pitted Terrell against Clemson’s receivers in one-on-one matchups. He rarely, if ever, allowed any separation. He made interceptions. He forced fumbles. His savviness and football IQ stuck out. His fluidity and change of direction — catlike, Allen said — still amazes his defensive coordinator, who occasionally goes back and watches the practice footage for fun.
“It was just like, ‘Holy smokes, this guy,’” Allen told the AJC. “I was like, ‘This kid’s different. This kid’s special.’”
Allen also learned about A.J., twice an All-ACC honoree and a first-round pick by the Falcons in 2020. Allen didn’t meet A.J. until Avieon’s draft party, but he’d heard plenty — the Terrell family is Clemson royalty.
“You won’t hear a negative thing about A.J. They’re like, ‘Man, for an elite, high-profile player, that dude was zero maintenance. Did everything right, went to class — just was one of those awesome dudes in every way,’” Allen said. “A lot of times, you get the high production guys, sometimes they’re a little high maintenance. The Terrell family is not that way.”
Avieon Terrell earned second-team All-American honors in 2025, notching 11 pass breakups and forcing five fumbles, a program record for a defensive back. He added 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks, and, perhaps most important to his NFL projection, he played over 100 snaps at nickel corner.
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Terrell has faced size questions. He’s not tiny, but he didn’t quite grow as large as his 6-foot-1, 200-pound brother. Allen believes the younger Terrell is still developing and has a chance to get bigger and stronger.
There’s a common misconception, Reed said, that corners below 6 feet should kick inside to nickel. He doesn’t see why Terrell, who played exclusively on the perimeter for two years in the ACC, should be restricted to the slot at the next level.
“We’re in a world now where everything has to have a label. When things don’t fit the label, people struggle,” Reed said. “My thing is, the kid’s a player. Wherever you go and line him up, he’s going to make plays. He’s versatile — he can go inside, outside. Hell, I think he can play safety.”
Allen said Terrell can play either nickel or outside corner for the Falcons, who currently have Mike Hughes as their projected starter on the perimeter but expect to have a room full of competition.
“The toughness piece kind of overshadows that,” Allen said about Terrell’s size. “And then, you start seeing the production and the habits, all those things. This kid can really, really run, and his change of direction is elite. And so then, you’re not quite as worried.”
The Falcons didn’t expect Terrell to be available at their pick. On the morning of April 24, several hours before they drafted Terrell, Falcons president of football Matt Ryan asked Cunningham which players must be on the board for him to bypass trading down. Terrell — with his toughness, competitiveness and ball skills — was Cunningham’s top answer.
Terrell was largely projected as a first-round pick when he decided to enter the draft after his junior season. But a hamstring injury limited his pre-draft testing and workout schedule, and with his hamstring again rearing its ugly head at his private pro day, Terrell timed a 4.64 second 40-yard dash, much slower than preferred for NFL corners.
After the session, several NFL team representatives approached Allen and told him the time wouldn’t affect Terrell’s draft stock. Others called him and asked about Terrell’s speed, to which Allen tried his best to dispel any concerns. But deep down, Allen knew Terrell’s flaws — his lack of elite size and an injury-plagued, slower than ideal 40-yard dash time — could prove problematic on draft weekend.
Terrell still held a draft party for the first round and went to sleep disappointed. His omission from the opening frame added more fuel, he said. It also created a Hollywood ending to a story so unique, so rare, Reed said, “only God can create.”
“To have two brothers on the same team, same position,” Reed said, “you just can’t write that script, man.”
Now, the Terrell brothers are teammates for the first time — and they should be for a long time. A.J. is under contract through 2028, while Avieon’s rookie deal ends after the 2029 season. The Falcons have acknowledged the uniqueness of the story, two Atlanta natives and brothers forming a young, tough, competitive cornerback tandem for the foreseeable future.
But the team eventually wants Avieon to build his own identity. He, too, wants to establish he’s more than A.J.’s younger brother. Avieon’s done it at each of his prior stops, and Clemson’s coaching staff — plus the Falcons’ decision-makers — expect him to do it again.
And boy, they say, will it be neat to see.
“I just want to sit back with some popcorn,” Reed said, “and watch the show.”
