Clemson’s newest commit has done his due diligence.
Three-star TE Wright Martin (Christ Presbyterian, TN) announced a commitment to the Tigers on Thursday, choosing Dabo Swinney’s program over Ohio State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and SMU. However, it was Clemson and the Buckeyes holding the top two spots on his list.
The 6-foot-2, 245-pound prospect visited Clemson for the Georgia Southern game last month, then silently returned to campus on Wednesday. Martin had an inkling that his recruitment would be coming to a close during that visit.
“I had a pretty good idea,” Martin told The Clemson Insider. “I just visited Ohio State last week, and I would say Clemson and Ohio State were my final two. I was talking to my parents on the ride, and I was like, ‘It just feels right to do it now.’ I feel like Clemson really turned up the recruiting on me, so it really just felt right.”
“Then they told us we had a meeting in coach Swinney’s office, and I was like, this is the time to do it. He was fired up. He goes running through the hallways. It was funny. He was super-fired up.”
While Martin was already leaning heavily towards shutting his recruitment down during the visit, what he saw while on campus only reinforced that decision. He believes Clemson is the perfect cultural fit for him.
“While we were on the visit, we went through all the academic stuff, the PAW Journey, which they offer us off the field after football — that was just huge for me,” he added. “Just getting plugged into the business world and stuff. It is so much bigger than football. I love how they plug in my faith with it, too. It is really awesome how Coach Swinney plugs that all in. And all the coaches do. It is just somewhere I can develop into a great man, a great husband, a great father and also win a lot of football games while becoming a great football player.”
Martin’s affinity for Clemson really started to blossom in the fall of 2025. His father, Ingle Martin, was a quarterback at Furman and is a member of the Furman Athletics Hall of Fame. He visited Clemson last year when the Tigers hosted the Paladins and tight ends coach Kyle Richardson made a lasting impression.
At that time, the multi-sport standout still thought his future was on the baseball diamond. While he was taking some football recruiting visits, not a single school had offered yet.
“Back then, I was still thinking I was going to play baseball in college,” Martin said. “I did not have any football offers. Didn’t have anyone looking at me for football. Me and my mom were on the sideline watching Furman warm up, and coach Rich came over and said, ‘Aren’t you the tight end from Nashville?’ And he just started talking to us, being intentional with me. I have no offers, no stars, anything like that. No one knows who I am, and coach Rich is still taking the time to make sure everyone feels the love. He wanted to make Clemson feel like a great place, and it truly is.”
After camping at Clemson during the summer, Martin also now has a pretty good idea of Richardson’s coaching style.
“I like it a lot,” Martin said. “Something they had up in the tight end room said, ‘We want to be the Mike Tyson version of a tight end,’ and that is exactly what I am looking to be as a player. Just the most physical, best blocker and never-drop-anything type of player. Hard-nosed, hard-working kind of player.”
Eight games into his junior season, Martin has 30 catches for 385 yards. He’s also rushed the ball 22 times for 109 yards with three touchdowns. Rivals ranks him as the 25th-best tight end in the class.
His commitment now gives Clemson two verbal pledges in the 2028 class, with Martin joining four-star QB Trace Hawkins.
Along with his visit to Clemson for the Georgia Southern game, Martin has also visited Ohio State, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Georgia, Georgia Tech and Wisconsin are a few of his other offers.
“This summer, I went to a lot of camps and got to see the schools for the first time,” Martin said. “I think I camped at eight or nine places and got offers from seven of them. I didn’t want to waste any weekends. I have somewhere pretty much every weekend this fall watching a game. I told myself I was going to see all those schools this fall before making a decision. So, I went to see them all and Clemson still felt like the best option for me. It really felt like home.”
While he might still be more than a year away from signing day, Martin feels like he’s already seen more than enough to make an informed decision, insisting he is all in.
“I am locked in,” Martin said. “I love Clemson. I love Clemson so much. Take football out of the picture, and I would love going to Clemson just as a student. Living on the lake and the type of people there. Those are my type of people. The people that I love. I really do love Clemson.”