Last weekend, Clemson experienced heartbreak on the recruiting trail.
Five-star DL Bryce Perry-Wright, who had been pegged as a Clemson lean for quite some time, committed to Texas, capping off what was a wild week to end his recruitment.
On Sunday, four-star safety target Blake Stewart is set to announce a decision. He is set to choose from Clemson, Michigan, Miami and Vanderbilt, with the Tigers seen by many as the favorite over the past few weeks. Sounds kind of similar to Perry-Wright, doesn’t it?
However, that doesn’t mean this one unfolds in the same manner. Make no mistake, Michigan and Miami have both made strong pushes late. Both programs have been known to use NIL aggressively, so landing Stewart would give the Tigers another big recruiting win over a couple of schools that have proven time and again they are not afraid to hand out big-money deals to high school recruits.
Nobody has forgotten the Wolverines flipping four-star safety Jordan Young from Clemson late in the last recruiting cycle. Michigan also got the ball rolling on four-star CB Graceson Littleton decommitting from the Tigers. Littleton ended up signing with Texas, but the Wolverines were heavily involved in him opening things back up.
Stewart made his first visit to campus for the Louisville game last season. He then picked up an offer from the Tigers during the contact period in January. He was back on campus for the Elite Retreat in March, then again for the big official visit weekend in early June.
“Clemson is a big-time program,” Stewart told The Clemson Insider in a previous interview. “It’s definitely a great offer to have.”
Rivals ranks the 6-foot-1 prospect No. 149 overall and No. 10 among all safeties.
Mickey Conn has already secured commitments from two highly-touted safeties in Kaden Gephardt and Kentavion Anderson, and adding a player of Stewart’s caliber to that group will set the Clemson secondary up for future success.
Not to mention, winning on Stewart will help ease some of the sting from Perry-Wright ending up elsewhere.
Photo courtesy of Blake Stewart on Instagram