Clemson’s recruiting class got an unexpected late addition over the weekend.

Three-star WR Cam Blivens (Lipscomb Academy, TN) joined the Tigers’ 2026 class on Sunday, announcing a commitment after wrapping up an official visit to campus over the weekend.

When wide receiver Parker Fulghum decided to transfer out following the conclusion of the season, that opened up a spot on the roster for another wide receiver, and early last week, Dabo Swinney reached out to Blivens to see if he had any interest in Clemson.

“When the coaches saw my film, they couldn’t believe I was still available,” Blivens told The Clemson Insider. “Coach Swinney FaceTimed me midclass, I answered, and he showed the whole room with all the coaches. It was crazy. He started talking to me about how someone transferred out, and they had a slot available, and they wanted me to come up.”

Blivens quickly set up an official for the weekend. He was the only recruit on campus, which led to a lot of personal attention.

“It was amazing,” Blivens said. “I was the only one on campus, and I got to spend a lot of quality time with the coaches. Coach (Tyler) Grisham, especially. And Coach Swinney at his house. It was great. I like the facilities and everything. The recovery room was amazing. It just really blew me away.”

Blivens had lunch at Swinney’s house on Sunday, along with some of the other coaches. The afternoon culminated with some hoops in the head coach’s gym.

“It was good, a lot of the coaches were there too,” Blivens said. “We played horse in his basketball gym. I beat him the first game, and then he was like, ‘I need a rematch.’ I kind of took it easy on him the second time. He is way better than I thought. He was doing crazy backboard hook shots and stuff like that.”

Blivens is a multi-sport star who not only earned all-state honors on the gridiron but also in basketball and track. He had D1 basketball offers from High Point, Lipscomb and Tennessee State. Missouri State, Seton Hall, MTSU, Boston University and Wichita State were also showing interest in his skills on the hardwood. Despite that, he is choosing to pursue a football career at the next level.

As a senior, Blivens had 63 catches for 1,086 yards with 12 touchdowns. He also returned two punts for touchdowns.

Seeing as he devoted so much time to different sports in high school, Blivens believes he’s just scratching the surface of what he can do on the football field.

“I never went to football rankings camps or any of those things because I played other sports,” he said. “I’m confident in my ability and know that once I focus all my attention on football, it’s going to be crazy.”

He originally committed to play football at Columbia last summer. His 4.2 GPA had most of the Ivy League schools in pursuit. In total, he had more than two dozen offers, with Pitt originally being the only Power-4 school to offer.

However, late in the recruiting cycle, Blivens started to receive some interest from multiple Power-4 schools, including Vanderbilt, with several wanting him to set up an official visit. That ultimately would trigger a decommitment from Columbia in early December.

“I was talking to Vanderbilt, and they said they thought I was a much better player than the Ivy League level,” Blivens said. “I thought, if they think that, then I should decommit and see what other schools would reach out.”

While Vandy never officially offered, one was likely coming. He was scheduled to take an official visit there this weekend. Obviously, with his commitment to the Tigers, that visit has been scratched.

In the end, Blivens bet on himself, and it worked. He became the 21st member of Clemson’s 2026 recruiting class, joining what was already a stellar group of wideouts that included four-stars Naeem Burroughs, Gordon Sellers and Connor Salmin.

“For me, it was the brotherhood,” Blivens said. “We ate with two freshman receivers, Gordo and Naeem, and I could really tell how close they were already. I hung out with the rest of the team after, and it was such a tight-knit community. Everybody was together. It really felt like a family.”

“I felt like a priority. I knew I was in the right place and didn’t need to look anywhere else.”

Photo courtesy of Cam Blivens on Instagram