CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Carter Welling may be gearing up for his second season with Clemson basketball in 2026-27, but the Tigers center is already building the kind of connections that go well beyond the court.
One of the closest is with a Clemson football player, true freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds.
Welling said the two have formed a real bond, one that started through church and has grown into a friendship that reaches into everyday life.
“He’s a guy I go to church with. He’s a great dude,” he said.
“He comes over to my house every once in a while for Sunday dinners. I made him chicken the other week, I think that’s why he played so well.
I like to take a little credit when I can.”
The link between them runs deeper than just being Clemson athletes. Both are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and both came to the Tigers from the West - Welling from Draper, Utah, and Reynolds from Queen Creek, Arizona. But according to Welling, their conversations don’t stay boxed into one lane.
“He comes from a great competitive family, all Division I, softball, football, you name it,” he said. “They’re a really athletic family, and I come from an athletic family too, so we have a lot in common. Especially in faith, we talk about everything.”
That connection has shown up publicly too, with the two often seen together or interacting on social media, especially over the summer.
For Welling, those kinds of relationships have mattered during a difficult stretch. His junior season ended in heartbreak with a torn ACL in the ACC Tournament, and he’s expected to be back in the new year.
When he returns, he wants to help bring the group closer together before the postseason. That’s part of what he’s thinking about in his senior season: helping Clemson win a championship of some kind.
The Tigers have never won an ACC Tournament title in program history, though they did win two games in Charlotte for the first time in head coach Brad Brownell’s tenure.
Still, for Welling, the bigger picture is about the people around him as much as the results.
“To hang a banner? That would be awesome. I think just to put the year I played here, to have a legacy here, I think that would be something that’s really special.”
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Brad Brownell Calls Out ACC Over A Clemson Rivalry Snub
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Brownell pointed to the league offices decision-making as the issue, saying he intends to bring it up again in future meetings. For Clemson, the frustration goes beyond one missing game, since the schedule sends the Tigers to Florida State twice while leaving a traditional rivalry game off the board entirely, a notable break from what has been standard since the 1950-51 season. [Read more 🡒]