By Hale McGranahan.

SHELBY, N.C. – It’s been over a year since Lance Ware put a bug in Dan Brooks’ ear about a rising ninth-grade linebacker who was coming through the pipeline.

Dax Hollifield had the “pedigree and drive” that would eventually attract college recruiters to Shelby High School with scholarships in hand, so Ware thought it was OK to give Brooks an early head’s up.

“We knew he was going to be good,” Ware said, during an on location interview with TheClemsonInsider.

Brooks jumped on board while visiting the school in January, making Clemson the first school to tender an offer to the 6-1, 215-pound freshman.

“I think he’s handled it all very well, too, and will continue to,” Ware said, “Because it’s not going to stop, it’s going to be three more years or this, but we’re fortunate we’ve got him for three more.”

En route to state championship last fall, Hollifield led Shelby with 112 tackles. He also had 17 tackles for loss and six sacks.

“He’s around the ball,” Ware said. “He’s a physical player. Very smart, very, very smart. Very football smart, as well as academics.”

Ware recognized the drive two years before he mentioned the name to Clemson’s defensive tackles coach.

“We had a four-year starter returning at middle linebacker. I can remember when Dax was in the sixth-grade, he told him, ‘I’ll be starting beside you when you’re a senior.’ He was. That’s the kind of drive and ambition that he has,” Ware said. “And it was because of how good he was. The film doesn’t lie. He can play.”

Neither does the pedigree, which goes back two generations to his grandfather and father, who played at Western Carolina and Wake Forest, respectively.

Along with Clemson, Duke, N.C. State, UNC and Wake Forest are ready to make it three generations of Hollifield men to play college football. More suitors are certain to jump into the mix — it’s only a matter of time.

“I didn’t think it was going to ever happen to me. It was a shock that they wanted me so early,” Hollifield said. “I hadn’t really heard about a lot of freshmen getting offered. It’s crazy for me to get an offer, especially from Clemson as a first offer, so it’s been pretty crazy.”

The interest is mutual. Hollifield visited in the fall for a game and again this spring for Junior Day.

“I like the facilities,” he said. “Those were the best I’ve ever seen…I just like all the people down there.”

The game day environment is equally impressive.

“It’s just totally different when you go down to Clemson. There are a million fans. They’re all there. When they C-L-E-M-S-O-N, it’s so loud in there. That’s what I like about it,” Hollifield said.

And there’s plenty to like about him.

“He wants to out-work people. He’s what you want,” Ware said. “He’s a straight-A student and all that business.”