While Bubba Alexander might live in the heart of Gamecock Country, the in-state linebacker has grown up an avid fan of Clemson.

Much of that is due to Dabo Swinney and how the head coach runs his program. The culture is rooted in family and faith, and that is something that has long resonated with Alexander, especially once he started camping at Clemson every summer as a youth.

Now that he is older and beginning the recruiting process himself, Alexander finds the Clemson program that much more attractive. The 2027 linebacker out of Hammond has now visited twice in the past week and a half.

That first visit allowed Alexander to take in one of the final practices of the spring. While he has been on campus many times in the past, including for the blowout win over NC State last fall, the visit at the end of March allowed him to see a side of things he’d never seen.

“It was amazing,” Alexander told The Clemson Insider. “It was such a different experience from what I’ve ever had. I got to tour the facilities, which I have seen before, but then we got to go into the staff and team meeting. So they pretty much had me like as part of the team.”

“Coach Swinney has his insight. He had some motivational stuff. One of the quotes he said that I thought was cool – I wrote it down – is he said, ‘Confidence comes from doing the work.’ Which I thought was awesome. Just because I feel like a lot of times, I feel inspired just by people doing the work. And that’s what I feel sets people apart. But it was really cool to be part of that.”

Another reason that visit was different was because of the retooled coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball. With Tom Allen now running the defense and Ben Boulware coaching the linebackers, there’s a different vibe surrounding things on that side of the ball.

“I could kind of tell a difference,” Alexander said. “I don’t know if it’s just because all of them are just way more fired up, but it feels more like – I don’t know how to explain it -that they were really passionate, and that was something I could tell.”

Alexander was back in Clemson Saturday for the spring game, getting to touch base once again with all the members of the coaching staff.

“I got to talk to, I think every single one of them,” Alexander said. “I talked to coach Swinney for a little bit, just saying hey and introducing myself. I got to talk to coach Boulware and coach Allen, and then coach Thomas Allen. I got to talk to them a decent bit, which was good to have another point of interaction.”

With the new additions to the staff, Alexander fully believes the Tigers will see marked improvement on that side of the ball and he can’t wait to get to experience some of that coaching for himself when he returns for camp in the summer.

“If it’s a coach that you want to play for, that defense normally plays better if there’s a coach that you actually care about playing for,” Alexander said. “You’re not just kind of running the plays. You’re just playing for him. So I kind of get that message. All of them are really dedicated to giving it everything they got, because they want to give it for him.”

Photo courtesy of Bubba Alexander on X (formerly known as Twitter) @bubbaalexander_