For several years, with his football program facing repercussions from probation, Danny Ford sent a subtle but strong message to Clemson's competition:

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Ford recalled during the summer of 2011 in interview with Tigerillustrated.com.

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"I said: 'You better get us now because we're young and we're not going to be here long.'"

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The Tigers were loaded as the calendar turned to 1987 after an 8-2-2 record the previous season. A large number of starters were back, and Clemson was quickly returning to college football's elite class.

The program's first big victory of 1987 came in February, when a decorated defensive end/linebacker recruit from Georgia named John Johnson stunned the home-state Bulldogs and signed with Clemson.

Johnson, from LaGrange, announced he would attend Georgia during a press conference 48 hours before signing day. Two days later, he created shockwaves by signing with the Tigers.

The surprise addition of Johnson was the product of dogged persistence by Clemson assistants Jack Crowe and Tommy West, who continued to court Johnson after he announced for Georgia. Ford was never optimistic about landing Johnson because he knew the difficulty of swiping the top recruit in the Peach State from the clutches of the Bulldogs.

The night before signing day, Ford began receiving angry calls from Georgia's staff. The Bulldogs' coaches couldn't locate Johnson, and they suspected Clemson's coaches might be up to something.

Johnson had left home and was staying at the home of a friend. Crowe and West had turned him, and both later admitted they tried to hide him from the Bulldogs during that crucial stretch.

Georgia coach Vince Dooley said on signing day that he was "surprised and disappointed" by Johnson's decision but offered no further comment. Days later, Dooley was calling for the imposition of a 48-hour "dead period" to prevent last-minute sales pitches from coaches. The rule was passed, and thereafter it was known as the "Dooley Rule."

Months later, as he made an immediate impact with the Tigers in his freshman season, Johnson said he soured on Georgia in part because of the unrelenting pressure from Bulldogs fans to sign with his home-state school.