CLEMSON — Linebacker is a position of need for Clemson in the 2027 class, and the Tigers aren’t having much luck with their top targets.
The staff has only offered six linebackers to this point, and that’s counting four-star Jarrell Chandler, who projects to be a hybrid safety/linebacker. He plans to visit for the Elite Retreat. Three-star Max Brown, the brother of current linebacker Sammy Brown, committed almost immediately, but outside of that, it’s been tough sledding for the Tigers.
Four-star Quinton Cypher committed to Ohio State. Four-star Noah Glover left Clemson off his list of finalists. Five-star Cooper Witten is going to be almost impossible to land after his father, former NFL All-Pro Jason Witten, took a job at Oklahoma.
That leaves five-star Kaden Henderson. Back in December, Henderson told The Clemson Insider he was “planning to” attend the Elite Retreat on March 7. Henderson now tells TCI that visit will not take place. Instead, he will be at Florida that day.
Arguably, the top linebacker in the class, Henderson has a stacked spring schedule. It just doesn’t include a stop in the Upstate. He last visited Clemson for the LSU game last season.
Henderson Spring Schedule
- Miami: March 5
- Florida: March 7
- Tennessee: March 21
- Texas A&M: March 28
- Florida State: April 2
- Ohio State: April 4
- Alabama: April 9
- Miami: April 16
- Notre Dame: April 18
Henderson attends Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida. It is the same school that both Wade and Drew Woodaz attended. Offensive lineman Gavin Blanchard also went to school there before transferring out for his senior season.
The 247 Composite ranks him No. 19 overall, No. 1 among all linebackers and No. 3 in Florida.
With Clemson looking to be out of this one, the staff is going to have to expand the board, seeing as they’d like to add another player or two at the position.
Photo by Bart Boatwright