The Clemson Insider recently checked back in with a Class of 2023 cornerback, who picked up an offer from the Tigers earlier this summer.
Roswell (Ga.) High School four-star Ethan Nation is a key target for the Tigers in the 2023 Class. That was apparent when Clemson cornerbacks coach Mike Reed made his way down to Roswell the Friday prior to Clemson’s Week 4 matchup against N.C. State, as TCI previously reported.
Reed, who has played a key role in Nation’s recruitment, made the 2.5-hour trip to meet with the highly-touted prospect just to catch up and talk. They hadn’t seen one another in person since Nation was up in Tiger Town for a visit in early June. That was back when he received his offer.
“It means a lot because he could probably be seeing people that are committed,” Nation said. “Him coming while I’m still undecided means that he really wants me. He just wants to build a connection.”
Nation detailed his relationship with Clemson cornerbacks coach Mike Reed and defensive coordinator Brent Venables.
“I talk to Coach Reed and Coach Venables pretty often and their message to me is that they just really want me bad,” he said. “Just on a weekly basis, keeping in touch with them as much as possible, just to keep the connection going.
Nation explains that his relationship with Reed has developed into Clemson’s cornerbacks coach being an Uncle-esque figure in his life.
“We’re just really close,” Nation added. “We share the same likings and things like that. We’re not really too far off from each other.”
Nation is a self-described unselfish, team-first player. He’s an elite cornerback prospect, who has impressive ball skills, which can also be attributed to work on the other side of the ball as a wide receiver.
“He loves my ball skills,” Nation said when asked what Reed likes about his game. “He wants me to keep on the defensive side of the ball. He said that I’m not going over to the offense because he wants to keep me away from them and all that, while I was at the visit. We joked around with that, but I’m pretty sure he just wants me to stay at corner.”
Nation hasn’t set up a visit to Memorial Stadium, but he plans on making it up to The Valley for a game soon. He did, however, make his way to Charlotte earlier this season to watch Clemson take on Georgia in the marquee matchup that was the Duke’s Mayo Classic.
“I loved the environment. It shows that the [Clemson] fans are loyal, even when they were down, they were still loud and crazy,” he said. So, I mean I really loved the environment and how the fans reacted.”
As far as other gameday visits are concerned, he’ll be heading to the Penn State-Michigan whiteout game in Happy Valley on Saturday, Nov. 13.
In addition to Clemson, Nation listed Oklahoma, Ohio State, Florida, LSU, Georgia, Oregon, USC, Cal and Texas A&M as schools currently standing out in his recruitment. Though, he estimates that Clemson currently holds a top-5 status for him.
“I just love how they’re a family team like they do everything together,” he said when asked about his overall impression of Clemson thus far. “So if it’s just the offseason, they’re going golfing, the whole team’s gonna go golfing. I would probably just say how they’re a family-oriented team.”
Nation will be dropping a top-14 list sometime in the near future, he added.
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