The Clemson Insider caught up with a talented North Carolina wideout, who was on campus two weekends ago.
Grimsley (Greensboro, N.C.) four-star Alex Taylor — a 6-foot-3, 175-pound sophomore in the class of 2024 – was at Clemson for an unofficial visit on Saturday, March 12.
“It was really good,” he said. “I really liked it a lot. I’d definitely say the receiver meeting with Coach Grisham was my favorite part of the visit. He was talking about their receivers in the past compared to other teams and the schemes they run. It was nice seeing how they compare against other big-time colleges.”
“They’re a more prestigious college, so I already knew it was going to be big,” he continued. “I liked the receivers a lot, the coaching staff. They have like 27 former players on the coaching staff. That’s really nice seeing just different players from the past teaching you.”
Prior to his visit, Taylor had been on two phone calls with Tyler Grisham. Clemson’s receivers coach has also spoken plenty with Taylor’s head coach at Grimsley as well. Grisham indicated that he would like to come up to Greensboro (N.C.) and see some of their games this year.
“It was very nice, especially meeting him in person,” Taylor said. “Building a better bond. He ate with us and so did his wife and the rest of his family. So just building a better relationship, trying to get closer to Coach Grisham and Clemson.”
While on his visit, Taylor was able to take in spring practice. He liked how Grisham ran his practices and is definitely a fan of how different the speed is at the college level, how hard the hits are and some big-time catches from Clemson’s receivers.
“I would say (the visit) is definitely up there,” he said. “Seeing how they do things there, how Coach Swinney pushes that you have to graduate. He’s gonna keep calling you, even after you leave early. He’s gonna keep calling you and telling you gotta get that degree.”
What was the message Taylor received from the coaching staff while he was on campus?
“They’re more looking at the junior class right now, the class that’s about to come in and how many guys they’ve offered from that class,” Taylor said. “Talking about some big-time ’23s that came in that they didn’t offer, so they’re trying to build a relationship. They’re also building a relationship with the ’24s they have coming up.”
Taylor is aware that Clemson doesn’t offer rising juniors until June 1. With that being said, an offer from the Tigers would mean so much more to him when considering his hometown and the players that have gone on to play at Clemson.
“It would mean a lot,” he said. “Seeing Diondre Overton — from Page — from my hometown, he went there. Now he’s playing in the XFL. Payton Page from Dudley, he’s playing there too. It would be really nice for our city and for me.”
Getting a better feel for Taylor and his game, he had about 600 receiving yards and six touchdowns in 10 games. He missed around four games this past season due to injury. While he wasn’t able to get a full season under his belt, Taylor’s trying to push more speed this year, breaking more tackles to show on his film.
“I’d definitely say I block very well,” Taylor said when asked to describe himself as a player, “if you want to run behind me and get some extra yards. I make 50/50 balls more 80/20 like a Mike Williams type of guy and my route running is definitely there.”
Rivals considers Taylor as the No. 33 receiver and the No. 204 overall prospect nationally in the class of 2024. He currently holds offers from schools like Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Duke, N.C. State, Penn State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and West Virginia.
Taylor plans on checking out ECU sometime this month, as well as Wake Forest on March 29.
Had a great time at Clemson yesterday💜🧡@Coach_Grisham @ClemsonInsider @ClemsonFB @grimsleyfb @e43fitness pic.twitter.com/78Naw4afv0
— thealextaylor (@thealextaylor3) March 13, 2022
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