Clemson recruiting: Latest news and notes surrounding the Tigers
By: Gavin Oliver January 18, 2017

The Clemson Insider rounds up the latest recruiting news and notes surrounding the Tigers:

Four new offers out. Clemson extended offers to four prospects on Tuesday, two from Florida, one from Georgia and one from Virginia.

Two of the aforementioned are 2019 recruits, Brunswick (Ga.) four-star offensive tackle Warren McClendon and Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas four-star outside linebacker Anthony Solomon.

Clemson assistant Danny Pearman, who recruits south Georgia for the Tigers, called McClendon to inform him of the offer. Clemson’s offer marked the eighth for McClendon, who also possesses offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio State, South Carolina and Tennessee. The 6-foot-4, 270-pounder joined Hogansville (Ga.) Callaway five-star offensive guard Keiondre Jones as the only 2019 offensive linemen with Clemson offers. McClendon, the No. 25 overall prospect in the 2019 class, spoke with TCI about the offer.

Solomon announced his offer on Tuesday evening. The elite talent already owns over 20 offers, including ones from Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, South Carolina and Tennessee. Alabama is reportedly one of the early favorites of Solomon.

On Tuesday night, a pair of 2018 tight ends announced offers in Jacksonville (Fla.) Providence four-star Will Mallory and Big Stone Gap (Va.) Union four-star James Mitchell.

Mallory, who is rated as the No. 114 prospect in the ESPN Junior 300, holds over two dozen offers, highlighted by Alabama, Georgia, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Southern Cal and Tennessee. The 6-foot-5, 205-pounder visited Clemson in November for the Syracuse game. Michigan is regarded as one of the teams to beat for Mallory, as his father and two uncles played for the Wolverines. But the interest between Clemson and Mallory is mutual.

Last but certainly not least, Mitchell reported his offer from Clemson later last night. Clemson has closely tracked Mitchell for some time now. Mitchell, who lists other offers from Duke, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Virginia Tech, made his first game visit to Clemson for the Florida State contest in 2015. He returned for the Louisville game last October, and he will be back on campus for Junior Day at the end of this month. Pearman also attended one of Mitchell’s games in October. Mitchell is very interested in Clemson. We’ll have a story on him out later today.

Clemson coaches hit the road. Members of Clemson’s coaching staff were back out on the recruiting trail on Tuesday to check in with some of the top targets. A few visits of note:

– Pearman visited Saint Simons Island (Ga.) 2019 four-star wide receiver Jashawn Sheffield. Clemson co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach Jeff Scott also visited Sheffield in December. The 6-foot-2, 175-pounder currently favors Clemson, Ohio State and Georgia among his 20-plus offers. TCI caught up with Sheffield about Pearman’s visit.

– Dabo Swinney was at Rock Hill (S.C.) to see South Pointe four-star receiver and priority 2018 Clemson target Derion Kendrick. Kendrick has long been a Clemson lean and could announce a decision sooner than later.

– On Tuesday evening, Swinney and Scott attended five-star receiver commit Tee Higgins’ basketball game against Knoxville Central at Oak Ridge (Tenn.) High. Swinney’s presence created quite a buzz, according to The Knoxville News Sentinel.

Higgins put on a good show for the two coaches, too:

Swinney goes in-home with top 2017 target. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney visited with Jennings (La.) four-star running back Travis Etienne at his home on Monday. Clemson offered Etienne last Thursday.

The Tigers are of course trying to fill the spot in their 2017 class vacated by Trezevant (Tenn.) four-star running back Cordarrian Richardson, who de-committed in December, and Etienne is one of the candidates. The former Texas A&M commit has expressed interest in Clemson and will take an official visit to the school this weekend after originally planning to use it on Texas A&M. He made an official visit to Tennessee last weekend and will make an official to LSU on Jan. 27, the last weekend before National Signing Day on Feb. 1. In December, the 5-foot-11, 213-pounder announced that LSU, Texas A&M and Tennessee were his three finalists. Swinney likes to say that if he can get a prospect on campus, then he has a chance. That certainly holds true here, though it could prove difficult to pull Etienne away from the grasp of in-state LSU, which offered in late December.

Xavier Thomas reacts to Hobby rumors. When reports surfaced on Tuesday that Clemson defensive ends coach Marion Hobby is leaving Clemson for a job in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars, five-star defensive end and top Clemson target Xavier Thomas reacted with this tweet:

 

https://twitter.com/atxlete/status/821413414287327234

 

While official word on the situation hasn’t come to light, we do know that coaching changes impact recruiting. Thomas, the No. 2 overall player in the 2018 class who is down to finalists Clemson and South Carolina, has built a relationship with Hobby. It’s easy to see why he is concerned about the reports and attracted to the idea of playing for Hobby, who has coached at Clemson since 2011 and consistently developed NFL talent. If Hobby indeed moves on, the importance of Clemson making a good hire from a recruiting standpoint can’t be overstated. At the same time, Clemson has a strong foundation with Thomas to lean on, and coaching changes are a natural byproduct of big-time success. Clemson’s coaches would surely stress that.

We are now taking pre-publication orders for our limited edition magazine Mission Accomplished. The first orders will be shipped the week of January 23. Order yours today to make sure you get a copy!

missionaccomplishedfinalcover