Looking Ahead to Clemson’s Big Official Visit Weekend
By: Jason Priester April 25, 2025

We are just over a month out from Clemson’s next big recruiting event.

The big official visit weekend is rapidly approaching, and numerous uncommitted prospects are scheduled to attend. This year, the event runs from May 30 to June 2. It’s an event that has been wildly successful since its inception a few years back. If Dabo Swinney can duplicate some of the past success he’s experienced on these weekends, the Tigers’ 2026 recruiting class could be a special one.

Since adding several commitments coming off the Elite Retreat in March, the class has been solidly ranked inside the Top 5. It currently sits at No. 2 in the 247 Composite Rankings. Clemson currently has 14 players committed in the class. Only Southern Cal, which currently has the top-rated class, has more with 23. Kansas, North Carolina and Syracuse all have 14, too.

Only twice has Clemson finished with a Top 5 class in the Swinney era (2020 and 2021). More often than not, Swinney’s classes tend to fall somewhere in that Top 10-15 range. Not because those classes lacked elite talent, but because the Tigers tend to sign fewer players year over year. While it’s not impossible for Clemson to crack the Top 5 with the 2026 class, it’s far more likely that it also ends up somewhere in the Top 12.

However, much of that will depend on the results from that big official visit weekend. The Tigers are still realistically in it for several more highly-rated targets expected to be in attendance that weekend.

Here are the names TCI has already confirmed will be on hand, and more are expected to be added.

  • Five-star OL Darius Gray
  • Four-star OL Carter Scruggs
  • Four-star OL Leo Delaney
  • Four-star OL Ekene Ogboko
  • Three-star OL Mitchell Smith
  • Four-star RB Carsyn Baker
  • Four-star RB Jae Lamar
  • Five-star WR Cederian Morgan
  • Four-star WR Craig Dandridge
  • Four-star DL Bryce Perry-Wright
  • Four-star DE Cam Brooks
  • Four-star DE Dre Quinn
  • Four-star S Tylan Wilson
  • Four-star S Blake Stewart
  • Three-star LB Caleb Gordon

Adding a talent like five-star wideout Cederian Morgan to a receiver group that already features four-stars Connor Salmin, Gordon Sellars and Naeem Burroughs would certainly impact where the class ends up being ranked. While the Tigers aren’t considered the favorite, they do get one more shot. It’s already one of the nation’s best groups of 2026 receivers, and adding a guy like Morgan, or even four-star Craig Dandridge, would make it that much stronger.

The same can be said about five-star OL Darius Gray. After attending the Elite Retreat, Clemson is in it. Gray has already taken an official to Virginia and will be at Virginia Tech this weekend. He also has officials set with Georgia, Tennessee, Auburn, Ohio State, LSU, Penn State and South Carolina, along with the scheduled trip to Clemson. The Tigers already have four offensive linemen committed in the class, and are looking to add up to two more.

Four-star DL Bryce Perry-Wright will return for the big official visit weekend. He has visited Clemson more than any other school, including multiple game-day visits last fall.

One name missing from the visitor’s list is five-star LB Tyler Atkinson. The nation’s top-ranked player at his position, Atkinson has yet to announce any official visits. However, with the work Ben Boulware has done here since being promoted to linebackers coach, Clemson is likely to get one. Boulware got Atkinson on campus for the Elite Retreat, after the Tigers had pretty much fallen off the five-star’s radar.

“The visit to Clemson was incredible,” Atkinson told The Clemson Insider after the visit. “What really stood out to me was the ‘AtkNup Plan’ they put together for me. They showed me in detail their vision for me there. From getting my degree in three years, my role in the defense that coach (Tom) Allen is bringing, how they can help grow my brand, to everything else.”

Getting these recruits on campus is just part of the process. The Tigers are also going to have to close the deal with some of these players, and it’s safe to assume they will. Which ones will be the determining factor when it comes to where the class finishes up in the rankings.