Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney and head men’s soccer coach Mike Noonan are very happy to have Tanner Tessmann signed to play for their respective squads.

One of the top 25 high school soccer players in the nation, Tessmann is expected to be a key contributor for Noonan’s top-5 Clemson soccer team, but also will play football and according to NCAA rules must count as a football scholarship.

Tessmann, who will be a placekicker for the Tigers’ football team, is the first signee under Swinney who did not play high school football.

His father, P.J. Tessmann, is director of Swinney’s All-In Team Foundation.

“Noonan is having a party somewhere right now because he just signed an unbelievably talented soccer player,” Swinney said during Clemson’s National Signing Day show on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period. “But I’ve had the inside track on this one for a long time … because my best friend is P.J. Tessmann. We’re basically brothers-in-law. We’re aunt and uncle to the same kids. His wife’s brother married Kath’s (Kathleen Swinney’s) sister. … But P.J.’s been my best friend. We grew up together, and just an amazing family. So, I’ve kind of been the pseudo uncle and aunt to his two kids — Tanner and his daughter, Ashley — literally their whole lives. Kind of like a Godfather, if you will.

“But I had the inside track because I’ve seen him his entire life and he’s one of the best athletes. He could go play D-I basketball, he could probably start at receiver at Clemson, he could probably play safety at Clemson. He’s a 6-2 phenom. He can fly. He’s as good of an athlete as I’ve ever seen.”

Tanner was rostered with the United States Under-20 Men’s National soccer team during its most recent training camp this past September in Slovenia, and he is expected to compete for a spot on the U.S. 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup team.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Tanner has played the last four years for the FC Dallas Academy within the United States Soccer Development Academy.

“It was a very tough thing for P.J. and P.J.’s wife, Kelly, because FC Dallas came recruiting him, and his dream was to play soccer professionally and maybe in Europe and all that,” Swinney said. “So FC Dallas literally came and recruited him, came to their house, and it was just a very challenging thing because he was going to be going off in the eighth grade to this high-developing professional organization in FC Dallas, an academy, because the Olympic people and everybody felt like he had what it took. So, he’s been living in Dallas literally since the eighth grade, and it’s amazing.”

Because Tanner has never played football, Swinney says he is “the only person on the planet” who knew about Tanner’s potential to be an impact kicker on the gridiron.

Swinney said Tanner could kick a 45- or 50-yard field goal when he was in the eighth grade, and Swinney compared him to Clemson sophomore kicker B.T. Potter.

“It’s been amazing to watch him develop,” Swinney said. “This guy, you think B.T. Potter but much taller, but that type of power kicking the ball out of the end zone. He literally has the range from 60-something yards. It’s incredible. Can punt, can do anything. So, he will be a guy that will come in and obviously going to play both.”

Tanner, naturally a right-footed kicker, has wowed Clemson’s staff at the Swinney Football Camp in the past.

“He’s out there and he can literally kick it 50-something yards left-footed, you’d think he’s a left-footed kicker,” Swinney said. “It’s just incredible how gifted he is.”

Tanner will follow a similar path at Clemson as Mark Buchholz, who played both football and soccer for the Tigers from 2007-08 and kicked the game-winning field goal against South Carolina in 2007 as time expired in Columbia.

“Tanner will be an impactful guy as he goes through his Clemson journey, so hopefully he’ll have an opportunity to win a national championship in two sports – in soccer and football – before he gets out of here,” Swinney said. “So, we’re super excited about Tanner Tessmann.”

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