The Clemson Insider wanted to pass along some updates on the nation’s top prospect in the 2023 class, following his visit to The Valley on Saturday.
As we all know by now, the Tigers played host to Arch Manning, the five-star quarterback from Isidore Newman School (New Orleans, La.), and his parents during Saturday’s 30-20 win over Florida State at Memorial Stadium.
Here’s some of what TCI has learned about Manning and his visit over the past 24 hours:
As Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was walking out of the tunnel to head to the field for warmups he turned and saw Arch and his family. Then, he turned around and went back and spent several minutes talking with them.
Manning was one of the recruits that Clemson took up to the top of the Hill to watch the Tigers run down. From what we saw, he seemed to enjoy seeing the most exciting 25 seconds in college football.
During the game, Arch sat in the back row of the recruit section with his parents. As you can tell from our photo gallery, he and his family seemed to enjoy the game.
We can tell you that Manning was seated amongst fellow five-stars and their families.
One of those five stars is Pinnacle (Phoneix, AZ.) 2023 tight end Duce Robinson, who caught up with TCI regarding his experience in Clemson and offered some insight into Arch’s time in The Valley as well.
He spent most of his time with Arch throughout his visit and indicated to TCI that the nation’s No. 1 prospect in the 2023 class enjoyed himself.
Robinson took a red-eye flight from the Grand Canyon state into Charlotte early Saturday morning. From there, he made his way down to Clemson for his first game day experience in The Valley.
“Me and him, we actually spent most of the time together, our two families,” Robinson said. “That was really cool. I had met him before, but we didn’t really get to have a true conversation. Being able to sit with him for most of the game and talk with him for most of the game was really cool.”
Manning was obviously accompanied by his parents. We can tell you that his mother, Ellen, was making conversation with a lot of the parents around her, as Arch immersed himself with his fellow recruits, such as Robinson.
Between all the publicity that was on display with his arrival, Clemson fans made sure to send their kids down to Arch’s section to retrieve autographs from any miscellaneous items from balls to cups to just about anything you could think of.
Prior to the game, Ahe was walking towards Clemson’s locker room with fellow class of 2023 prospect, Monroe Freeling, a four-star offensive tackle from Oceanside Collegiate Academy (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.).
Freeling told TCI that Arch got lost along the way because he kept getting stopped by fans, who were asking to take pictures. Clemson fans made sure Arch felt at home on his second trip to Death Valley since his unofficial visit this past summer.
When Arch visited the Dabo Swinney High School football camp in June he and his family were left very impressed and some sources had Clemson being in very good shape. Since then Manning has drawn attention all over the Southeast as he’s visited Georgia, Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss.
His visit this weekend was critical for the Tigers to remind him what makes Clemson special. Arch and his family got to experience Clemson’s family atmosphere once again. They also got to take in their first game day in Death Valley.
Arch and his family like to keep things to themselves about where things stand. There is a ways to go on this one, but one thing we can tell you after talking with a number of sources is that the Tigers helped their positioning this weekend. We believe Clemson will remain a contender until the end. The competition is fierce for Arch so Clemson has plenty of work to do.
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