Clemson Not Included Among Finalists for Two Different Offered Recruits
By: Jason Priester May 18, 2025

Win some, lose some. That’s the name of the game when it comes to recruiting.

On Friday, Clemson won a big one, landing a commitment from one of the best safeties in the 2026 class, with four-star Kentavion Anderson announcing a verbal pledge. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound recruit is one of the Top 10 safeties in the class and a Top 120 talent overall. On top of that, the Tigers beat out the rival Gamecocks for his services.

However, there have also been a couple of recent misses. Four-star DE Luke Wafle announced his five finalists on Friday, with Ohio State, Texas, Southern Cal, Penn State and Florida all making the cut. Clemson did not.

The Tigers got in fairly late, offering in early April. Landing Wafle was always going to be a long shot, and the staff never gained much traction, as evidenced by the board at defensive end expanding with a recent offer to three-star JR Hardrick.

Wafle is one of the highest-rated ends in the class with the 247 Composite ranking him No. 55 overall and No. 6 among all EDGE rushers.

Another recruit with a Clemson offer named his finalists on Friday, while also excluding the Tigers. Four-star Zaden Krempin released his Top 4 that included Michigan, LSU, Texas and Texas A&M.

Krempin got a visit from offensive line coach Matt Luke in January, then visited Clemson for the first time ever for the Elite Retreat in March, leaving with an offer in hand.

The Tigers did secure commitments from three offensive linemen during the Elite Retreat, with four-stars Adam Guthrie, Chance Barclay and Grant Wise all announcing that weekend. They joined four-star Braden Wilmes, who committed late last year, giving Clemson a total of four.

Luke is still looking to add as many as two more to the class, and has a handful visiting for the big official visit from May 30 to June 2. Four-stars Ekene Ogboko, Carter Scruggs and Leo Delaney are all scheduled to attend. Newly offered three-star Fletcher Turk tells TCI he will take an official visit to Clemson on June 13, so despite missing on Krempin, the Tigers still have multiple options. And good ones.

Photo courtesy of Zaden Krempin on X (formerly known as Twitter)