CLEMSON — Amare Adams is hard to miss.

Despite being fresh out of high school, Adams stands 6-foot-5 and weighs over 300 pounds, and the former five-star prospect was the crown jewel of Clemson’s 2025 recruiting class.

After beginning his high school career at Lake City, Adams transferred to South Florence, where he anchored a defensive line that was one of the best in the state the last two years. His ability to dominate in the trenches helped guide the Bruins to the state title game in 2023, a contest they lost in the final seconds to Westside.

Last season, he helped lead South right back to the state title game against that same Westside team, and this time the Bruins weren’t going to be denied, stopping what would have been a go-ahead two-point conversion with less than two minutes left to preserve a one-point lead.

Those deep playoff runs of the past two seasons make Adams battle-tested, and assistant Nick Eason believes the former five-star has what it takes to be one of the next great defensive tackles to come through Clemson.

“He is an elite, elite player,” Eason said during Clemson’s annual media outing at the Allen J. Reeves Complex on Tuesday. “Amare has all the tools, all the intangibles to be a great defensive lineman. It doesn’t get any better than him.”

Anyone fortunate enough to watch Adams play knows what he brings to the table from a talent standpoint. However, it’s those things that can’t be seen from the outside looking in that have impressed Eason early on.

“I think Amare is going to be a very natural leader,” Eason added. “Great personality, comes from a great family. A very humble spirit. Very strong, can move for his size. He does all the things the right way. Heard nothing but great things about him throughout this building, throughout this campus. And really looking forward to see what he is going to put on tape.”

Despite facing constant double teams, and sometimes triple teams during his senior season, Adams tallied 75 total tackles, 13 tackles for loss, six sacks, two passes deflected and one forced fumble. Two different recruiting services ranked him inside the Top 32 overall, earning him five-star status by both. One ranked him as high as No. 7 overall.

Adams enrolled early and went through spring practice, and by all accounts, the acclimation process has gone smoothly. However, with his first fall camp rapdly approaching, now is when the hard work will really begin.

Clemson bolsters a talented and deep group of defensive tackles, and what Adams accomplishes over the next few weeks will dictate exactly how much he contributes as a freshman. There is one thing that is certain at this point, and that is Eason believes Adams possesses all the tools to be one of the next Clemson greats.

“A highly-recruited kid, obviously one of the top defensive linemen in the state of South Carolina,” Eason said. “But he has got to go put it on tape.

“He has all the tools, all the intangibles, but he has a lot of work to do. A lot of technique and fundamentals, and obviously, understanding the playbook and understanding how to play on this level. But in terms of being elite and having the toolbox, to really go do some great things with what he has, he’s got everything.”