This past Thursday, The Clemson Insider made a pit stop at Woodland High School Dorchester (S.C.) to see one of the premier offense tackles in the class of 2024, as a part of this year’s version of the Tour of Champions.
Kam Pringle returned to Tiger Town for the first time since this past summer, in which he participated in the Dabo Swinney Camp. He was in attendance for Clemson’s 48-27 win over Wake Forest at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
TCI caught up with Pringle again on Sunday regarding his first game day experience in The Valley.
“It was definitely great, I had a good time,” Pringle told TCI. “That was my first time being in Death Valley for game day. [The reception] was really warm from the coaches, warm from the fans and the players. Everybody was happy that I was there.”
What would Pringle say the highlight of the visit was?
“Definitely meeting the players and talking with the coaches,” he said, “and just walking around the stadium, seeing all the people and the fans that I know who I am, telling me to become be a Tiger and all that.”
Pringle had a chance to talk with current Clemson players Jordan McFadden and K.J. Henry.
“They were just happy I was there,” he added. “K.J, he didn’t really know as much who I was, but he knew that I was an o-linemen and he wanted me to come play for Clemson.”
As for McFadden, he coached Pringle through a couple of drills earlier this past summer. The two also follow one another on Instagram and share some messages back and forth every once in a while.
With that being said, what was the overall message that Pringle received from Clemson’s coaching staff?
“I talked to Coach Caldwell for a good little minute,” he said. “I talked to Coach Austin. As usual, as I tell y’all, they don’t really say too much as far as conversating, but really their main message is just, when the time comes, just be ready and, of course, consider Clemson in my recruitment.”
It was nice for Pringle to catch up with Clemson offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell and offensive analyst Thomas Austin in person, considering most of his recruitment is currently done through his head coach at Woodland, Eddie Ford.
According to Pringle, Austin was excited to see him, as was Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.
“With Coach Swinney, he just saw me and was like, ‘Aww man! Looks like you’re getting better.’ He also said that I was huge,” Pringle said. “We took a couple of pictures together.”
One of those pictures that Pringle is referencing (pictured above) was taken after Clemson’s 21-point win over the Demon Deacons. He got a chance to be in the locker room after the game.
Pringle certainly picked the right game to make his visit.
“It was loud now,” he said regarding the atmosphere at Memorial Stadium. “I knew it was loud, but it was actually really loud. Of course, it calmed down a bit, once they were up on Wake Forest pretty good. But, in the first quarter, oh my gosh…it was a lot going on. A lot of crazy fans, loud fans, yelling and screaming.”
He also found it pretty cool to be recognized by the Clemson faithful.
“Of course being from South Carolina, you got a lot of Columbia fans on my Twitter,” Pringle said. “But, when I got up to Clemson, I didn’t know that I had that many Clemson fans that really knew who I was too. After I posted, my phone was blowing up with all these Clemson fan followers who maybe saw me or saw the pictures of me at Clemson.”
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