5-star, Nation’s No. 1 athlete will be at Clemson this weekend

Clemson is set to play host to one of the nation’s best prospects in the class of 2024 this weekend.

The Clemson Insider recently caught up with Buford (Ga.) High School five-star athlete K.J. Bolden, who will be on campus this Saturday, March 12, and he confirmed that via Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.

Bolden (6-0, 180) currently ranks as the nation’s No. 1 athlete and No. 9 overall prospect in the 2024 class, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.

“Last time I spoke with Coach (Tyler) Grisham, the receivers coach,” Bolden told TCI this past week. “He was just telling me about the culture and how Clemson doesn’t just offer anyone and how we have to wait until June 1 of our junior year for when they offer juniors.”

How does Bolden feel about that?

“At first, I was frustrated, because Clemson has always been my favorite school that I wanted an offer from,” he said. “But when I hit my sophomore year, it made me realize that they just want to get to know you and I like coaches like that, who want to get to know you before they bring you onto your team. That’s really big to me.”

While Grisham has recently been in contact with Bolden, the Tigers have left it up to Bolden to determine what position he’ll play at the next level. He’s not leaning way or another, rather he’d like to see how the next two years of his high school career go.

What is Bolden hoping to get out of his visit?

“I just want to go down there and know those coaches more, build a better relationship than we already have,” he said.

In addition to Clemson, Bolden is planning to visit Ohio State, Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan State and Penn State.

He indicated that these upcoming visits are going to be very important for him. By the time his junior year rolls around, Bolden wants to narrow down his recruitment to 8-10 schools.

This weekend will certainly be a determining factor in whether Clemson is one of those schools going forward.

“I feel like the program’s performance is great still,” Bolden said. “Coach Dabo (Swinney) knows what he’s doing. He’s got a couple of good guys coming on this year. Hopefully, they have a good season this year.”