5-Star Specialist Commits to Tigers, Calls Clemson ‘Gold Standard’
By: jasonpriester February 5, 2025

Alex Nocco’s eventful recruiting journey has ended in Clemson.

The highly-touted long-snapper, out of Jesuit (Tampa, FL), has confirmed with The Clemson Insider that he has committed to the Tigers.

Rubio Long Snapping, a recruiting service that ranks long snappers, has Nocco as a 5-star and as the 12th-best player at the position.

While multiple schools have pursued Nocco, the highly-touted specialist’s heart has always been in Clemson. However, the road taken was the one less traveled.

Nocco is a senior in high school and will enroll in school ahead of the summer semester, but it won’t be until 2026 that he joins the team.

“I will be gray-shirting,” Nocco told The Clemson Insider. “So I will be like a trainer for a semester and then I will be on the roster in 2026.”

The idea of gray-shirting was first broached with Nocco and his family last summer, but due to uncertainty with the new rules surrounding roster limits at the time, things were kind of in a holding pattern.

Nocco then visited campus twice during the season, with the last one coming for the blowout win over The Citadel on Military Appreciation Day. It was then that Nocco knew for sure the opportunity was there.

“When I was there in July, they gave me the idea,” he said. “They said I could do it as long as my season went fine and everything went great. They said the opportunity would be there and I took it.”

“Then the last time I was up there for the Citadel game, I got to talk to Coach (Dabo) Swinney. He said if that’s an opportunity I’d like to take, he’d be glad to accept me.”

Georgia, FAU, South Florida and Temple were some of the other schools pursuing Nocco, but in the end, he felt Clemson afforded something the rest of the field did not.

“There’s something much different about Clemson than anywhere else,” Nocco said. “The family atmosphere is unlike any other school. It is a legitimate family atmosphere there. Clemson is like the standard. The gold standard. You can’t get anything better than that.”

A big part of what makes Clemson different is the culture Swinney has in place inside of the program.

“Coach Swinney, he is incredible,” Nocco added. “He is probably one of the greatest coaches of all time. His faith is there, which I really like. A man of God is not something every school has as their leader.  If you have a man of God as your leader, then you’re going to be heading into the right direction.”

Getting to work with special teams coach Will Gilchrist was something else Nocco couldn’t pass up.

“Coach Gilchrist, he is a great guy,” Nocco said. “He is the definition of a man of God, as well. He is just great all-around. That is another thing too, coach Gilchrist is probably who I will be hanging out with most when I am practicing and I love to practice around him. Not saying that the coaches at any other schools weren’t good, he just stood out to me. Just somebody I would like to have as my mentor.”

Getting to watch how Clemson celebrates first responders also resonated.

“ My dad’s a first responder as well,” Nocco said. “The military and stuff, it all kind of corresponds. My dad works with a lot of those guys. Just the fact that they set aside a game, and they do all that, and how they elect somebody to run down the hill with a flag, I think that’s really cool.”

Now Nocco’s dreams are becoming a reality. He is headed to the place he feels he belongs.

“I was so thankful for the opportunity,” Nocco said. “I felt extremely blessed. As soon as I left there I started thanking God. Because without God, you can’t do nothing.