The Clemson Insider has learned that Clemson has reached out to a defensive back in the 2022 recruiting class.
TCI can confirm that Clemson co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach Mickey Conn reached out to Miramar (Hollywood, Fla.) three-star safety Darius Thomas, Jr. on Monday.
“They like what they see in me and they would love to have me on their campus,” Thomas told TCI in a phone interview Monday night.
Thomas believes that an offer from the Tigers should be coming soon, but he needs to send in his transcripts first. Once he sends in his transcripts, he’ll be able to take an official visit and then they’ll move from there.
An official visit should take place sometime in January.
Monday marked the first time that Conn — or anyone from Clemson — reached out to Thomas. As surprising as that sounds, just imagine how Thomas felt?
He was caught completely off guard.
“Coming from a big program and someone like [Conn], it means a lot to me,” he said. “Clemson has always been one of my dream schools coming up. So, that’s a big thing for me.”
With that being said, what did Thomas hear from Clemson’s safeties coach?
“He said he loves me,” Thomas said. “As of right now, I’m his guy right now. He told me before that he had two safeties committed — and one decommitted and went to Michigan — so right now, he has a spot for me out there.”
Thomas has a lot of range and with that comes a lot of versatility. He’s a modern-day defensive back, who can hit, cover, tackle and has elite ball skills. He can play just about any position in the secondary.
Across his senior campaign, Thomas recorded five interceptions and 47 total tackles. He characterized his senior season as everything he wanted it to be and more.
Thomas is in every sense of the word, a late bloomer.
He wanted to let his recruitment play out a bit longer because he knew with the season he had this year, he was going to get a lot of opportunities to play at the next level.
“Everything’s going as planned,” he said.
With Clemson reaching out on Monday, it proves that his patient approach to his recruitment process is starting to pay off,
“All my life I’ve been an underrated, under-the-radar type of person,” Thomas said. “There’s just something about me, that dog in me, I just want to make a name for myself.”
In addition to Clemson, schools like Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas A&M, Miami and Florida State have all reached out since the early signing period.
Thomas knew that some of those schools were gonna end up reaching out — he holds offers from both Georgia and Texas A&M — though, he didn’t imagine Clemson would be among them.
“It’s crazy that Clemson did,” he said. “Clemson wasn’t really a school in mind at all.”
He’s not sure where this process is gonna take him, but he’s excited to see how it plays out over the next month or so.
“It’s really wherever God takes me, it doesn’t really matter to me,” Thomas said, “but as of right now, Clemson might be the place for me.”
With that being said, what is Thomas looking for in a school at the next level?
“Just a family-oriented team and a place I can call home, that I can just feel like it’s the right for me,” he said. “And, I’m not just playing football to get somewhere, I’m playing football to better myself as a man, a person and just as a player.”
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