Three weeks til Signing Day
By: hale-mcgranahan January 13, 2016

Things will heat up along the recruiting trail when the dead period comes to a close at midnight on Thursday.

College coaches from across the country will ramp up their efforts with a strong closing on the first Wednesday in February.

For Clemson, the majority of the work remains on the defensive side of the ball. Zerrick Cooper, Tavien Feaster, J.C. Chalk, Cornell Powell, T.J. Chase and Diondre Overton make up the Tigers’ skill position haul.

Offensive linemen Sean Pollard and Tremayne Anchrum Jr. are already on campus. Chandler Reeves will join them in the summer. Four-star John Simpson, who will take an official visit to Florida this weekend, is still up for grabs.

Simpson is scheduled to visit Tigertown next weekend. Alabama will get the final visit at the end of the month. LSU hosted him in the fall, for his first official.

A majority of Clemson’s other non-committed official visitors are defensive backs.

Coconut Creek High School (Florida) teammates Trayvon Mullen and Malek Young will return to campus this weekend, and they’ll be joined by a majority of the 2016 signing class.

Mullen, a four-star cornerback, is also scheduled to see LSU. Before the new year, he visited Florida State, Louisville and TCU. Young, a three-star cornerback, will also see Miami and South Carolina.

Four-star defensive tackle Michail Carter is on the list of this weekend’s official visitors in Clemson. The Jackson, Ga. prospect will head to Georgia Tech and Georgia before Signing Day.

Along with Simpson, three-star safety Romeo Finely (Niceville, Fla.) is also expected to be in Clemson next weekend.

Daniel Thomas, the most recent 2016 prospect to land an offer from the Tigers, has set plans to be on campus at the end of the month. The three-star safety from Montgomery, Ala. will take trips to South Carolina and Maryland before heading to Tigertown.

Lavert Hill, who’s listed by Rivals as the No. 13 ranked cornerback in the class of 2016, will wrap up his official slate at the end of the month. The Detroit four-star also has trips scheduled to Southern Cal and Michigan State. Michigan and Tennessee hosted him in December.

The big fish is still out there: Rashan Gary, the top overall prospect in the country, is mulling his final official visit. The five-star defensive tackle is said to be using trip No. 5 on Clemson.