Most Clemson baseball fans are familiar with the name Michael Johnson.

Johnson was a standout for the Tigers, lettering four times (2000-03) as a first baseman. His 58 career home runs still rank among the best in program history, as does his 213 career RBI. Johnson was a career .344 hitter with 275 hits, 52 doubles, a .465 on-base percentage, and 25 stolen bases as a part of four NCAA Tournament teams and two College World Series squads (2000,02). The two-time captain for the Tigers was also a two-time recipient of the Bob Bradley Award as Clemson’s MVP of the season series against South Carolina, thanks in part to hitting 10 home runs in 16 career games against the Gamecocks. He was recently inducted to the Clemson Athletics Hall of Fame.

Johnson returned to the baseball program in 2008, serving as an assistant on Jack Leggett’s staff, and was part of the team that made it to Omaha in 2010.

Now his son, Michael Johnson III, is hoping to have an opportunity to play on the same college field where his father experienced so much success.

Up until 2019, the family resided in the Upstate, meaning Johnson III basically grew up around Clemson. He was consumed by Clemson athletics, spending many fall weekends of his childhood attending football games, and many of his spring weekends at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“I grew up there. I have always been around the city, the baseball program. I have always been around,” Johnson III told The Clemson Insider. “We went to pretty much every home football game. Went to a lot of baseball games. We went to a lot of sporting events in general.”

The family now lives in the coastal region of the state, where the younger Johnson is a multi-sport standout at Georgetown High School. The high school junior is the quarterback on the football team and has attended Dabo Swinney’s high school camp each of the past two summers.

“All the coaches are right there in it,” Johnson III said. “Dabo, he is there talking to us. Every break that we get, he is there talking to us. He is driving around on the golf cart during the drills, giving advice. Then there are the coaches from everywhere else giving advice, and they are one-on-one. It is really cool. They gave a bunch of pointers. Also, some of the players were around and giving pointers and helping out with drills. It was neat getting to see actual players.”

However, it is baseball that is Johnson’s first love. As much as he loves football, he knows his future is on the baseball diamond, and even though he has yet to play his junior season, schools are already showing interest. Johnson has taken visits to College of Charleston and The Citadel.

“The baseball program has history. They have always been pretty good,” Johnson III said of CofC. “The coaching staff is amazing and has a ton of experience. The facilities are top-notch, with the full turf field and the views that they have at Patriots Point. I really like that.

“With The Citadel, I love how organized it is. Everything has a plan, and there are very few distractions. The coaches are great. They have always been super-great with me, and I have built great relationships with them. The baseball field is great — the minor league Charleston River Dogs field. That field is amazing. All those facilities are top-notch, too. Hearing what The Citadel was about and what they do there, I really did love it.”

While Johnson III certainly plans to keep an open mind throughout the recruiting process, there’s just something special about Clemson that is hard to ignore. And he’s already hearing from the Tigers, as well.

“That is my dream,” Johnson said. “I just grew up there. I have such a close relationship with everybody around there. We have a bunch of friends up there. With my father, I always heard about the balls getting hit in the trees and over the batter’s eye, and I have always kind of wanted to follow up on that, but by building my own path. I have just always been attracted to Clemson.”

There is a reason schools are showing some early interest. As a sophomore, Johnson III hit .486, with two homers, 11 doubles, 18 RBI and 19 runs scored. His OBP was .547. The right-hander also sported a 3-2 record on the mound with one save. His ERA was 3.26 and he struck out 28 hitters.

Clemson head coach Erik Bakich has been on hand to watch Johnson III play, as have assistant Griffin Mazur and former assistant Nick Schnabel. With his dad’s history with the program, it’s been easy to build a relationship with the Tigers’ head coach, plus he’s also played with one of Bakich’s sons. Bakich even coached his father when he was on Leggett’s staff in 2002.

“I have built a great relationship with him over the past couple of years,” Johnson III said. “He coached my dad for one year back in ’02. I have been able to build a great relationship with his son, who is my age. We have played on a couple of teams together. It has been great getting to know them.”

With two more years of high school ball still ahead of him, there are still a lot of directions Johnson III’s recruitment could go. However, no matter how many roads he has to travel, there’s definitely a part of him that hopes the journey ends in Clemson.

“It would mean the world,” Johnson III said. “It has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. There are videos of me playing baseball with my Clemson hat on in the house, talking about hitting home runs. We just kind of always went to the games, and I always chased foul balls. I grew up there.”