In the highlight tape, Riley McGillan practices his crossover, dribbling between his legs and back again with finger-snapping quickness. He executes crossovers, juggles and figure eights through his legs — all with two balls.

McGillan, then a student manager, stood tired in Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum on a Sunday night last January at 11 p.m., not an unusual time for him to be in the gym. His friend, roommate and fellow manager Eric Couto stopped recording.

He wasn’t famous on the Clemson campus, but had gained recognition through his dribbling tapes on Instagram.

“I’m always in the gym,” McGillan said. “I have gym rat syndrome.”

But this season, McGillan doesn’t have as much free time.

The Clemson junior is the first manager to be promoted onto the team under head coach Brad Brownell. After earning his way onto the practice squad as a student manager, McGillan fought for and, with a little luck, earned the lone roster spot for a walk-on. Despite playing only six minutes this season, it’s a testament to the physically taxing workouts he endured that he is on the team at all.

He could have walked on at a Division II or D-III school, but he wanted the chance to walk on to a basketball powerhouse in the Atlantic Coast Conference. His Tigers (9-7, 1-3 ACC) host Syracuse (13-4, 4-0 ACC) on Saturday at 4 p.m.

“He had to change his body and become tougher,” Marty McGillan, Riley’s father, said. “His role is the guy at the end of the bench and the fact that he’s gotten into a few games this year is incredible.”

But McGillan did not make the team after his freshman tryout. He asked Brownell — who coached with Marty McGillan for six seasons at North Carolina Wilmington and Wright State — if he could do anything, whether it be team manager or anything else.

“Sorry, but we already have enough managers,” was Brownell’s polite response.

Out of high school, McGillan was not recruited by any school. At least this rejection would allow him to move on.

As he prepared to join the women’s basketball practice squad, Brownell told him a student manager spot had opened up.

McGillan started attending practices, popping into some drills and impersonating the opposition. Clemson values its practice squad because it means the team can glimpse aspects of the opposing team days in advance, McGillan said.

About three-quarters through his freshman year, Brownell told McGillan he was better than expected. The two talked about McGillan joining the team, as Brownell outlined expectations like improvements in strength and quickness.

He may have also been reluctant to add a second walk-on, McGillan said, in addition to then-sophomore Carson Fields.

As the months wore on, McGillan became frustrated. He felt Brownell was teasing him, saying he was good but not giving him a spot.

McGillan took out his frustration by lifting weights.

He mimicked the intense workouts he did with his hometown friend Worth Gregory. In the summer before he went to college, the two went to their high school’s empty parking lot to push Gregory’s Jeep from one end of the lot to the other. Other times they’d sprint with rubber bands around their waists, held back by a weight. Once, after finding a video of Tim Tebow doing it on YouTube, they went into Gregory’s backyard and chopped down a tree.

Using a similar regimen helped McGillan get into better shape.

Brownell noticed McGillan’s improved fitness. This fall, Fields decided he did not want to play basketball for his senior season. The walk-on slot opened up.

“I made him earn it a little bit more,” Brownell said. “But to his credit, he did.”

Published on January 15, 2015 at 12:05 am

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR