The Clemson Insider recently spoke with a North Carolina native in the class of 2023, who has been receiving a lot of attention from Clemson’s coaching staff.
We’ve reached out to Grimsley (Greensboro, N.C.) four-star Jamaal Jarett in the past to see if Clemson had been a school he’d been in touch with. Despite his best efforts, he never heard from the previous defensive coaching staff.
According to Jarrett — a 6-5, 340-pound junior — that has since changed as Nick Eason, Wesley Goodwin and Carter Thomason have all been recruiting him hard.
Since Goodwin and Eason have assumed their current roles, Jarrett has become a priority for the Tigers.
We reached out to him again after he posted the below graphic on Twitter Monday.
Thank you Clemson For the support and interest @CoachEason1 @ClemsonFB @WesleyGoodwin @CoachCthomason #clemsontigers @DonCallahanIC pic.twitter.com/7uitA2ZpXw
— 🅹🅰︎🅷 (@JamaalJarrett) February 22, 2022
“It’s awesome, man,” Jarrett said about hearing from Clemson. “You already know, I’ve been trying to reach out to Clemson for the longest, since Todd Bates was there and everything. He’s gone and with the new coaches coming in, they’re starting to evaluate North Carolina harder. My name popped up and they’ve been recruiting me pretty hard now.”
Jarrett estimates that he’s in contact with Goodwin — Clemson’s defensive coordinator — at least 2-3 times a week, while he talks with Eason just about every day. Before Jarrett ultimately receives an offer from the Tigers, he’s aiming to build a relationship with Eason, his would-be position coach and Goodwin, as well as Thomason, a defensive analyst on Dabo Swinney’s staff.
“It’s pretty good, man,” he said of his relationship with the Tigers’ defensive staff. “Coach Goodwin checks up on me every day. Me and Coach Eason have that bond already because he was at Auburn and one of my friends plays at Auburn. Me and him relate to a lot of things. He talks about my game and what I can work on and I’m always asking him questions on how to get better.”
The friend that Jarrett mentioned is Neville (Monroe, LA.) 2022 three-star defensive lineman Enyce Sledge, who signed with Auburn during the early signing period in December. While Sledge didn’t have a chance to play for Clemson’s defensive tackles coach at Auburn, Eason did serve as his lead recruiter.
“He said that Coach Eason is awesome,” Jarrett said regarding what he’s heard from Sledge. “He evaluates and recruits you hard. If he really likes you and sees potential in you, he’s gonna make sure you’re alright and make sure you’re getting better every day.”
Jarrett has talked with Clemson’s staff about taking a visit this spring. He’s planning on visiting both Tennessee and Georgia, but also wants to make sure he gets on Clemson’s campus within the next month or so. As of now, he hasn’t scheduled date and he indicated that that’s to be determined.
Last month, Jarrett made visits to Georgia, UNC and N.C. State.
As far as his recruitment is concerned, Jarrett said that his main focus is taking these upcoming visits to the schools he mentioned and seeing what they’re all about. He’s gonna start narrowing down his process around the summertime.
What would a Clemson offer mean to Jarrett?
“It would definitely help my recruitment, like start to narrow it down, ” he said. “Because Clemson is one of the schools that I’ve really been aiming for since my sophomore, freshman year, so it would be crazy if they finally pulled the trigger for me. It would definitely help me narrow down some schools.
“And I know Payton Page is one of the best defensive tackles from North Carolina and it seems like he’s enjoying it over there. If Clemson were to pull the trigger on the offer, I would be really happy, man. I would definitely put them in my top list coming towards the summer.”
Jarrett is a big fan of Bryan Bresee, he watches the Tigers’ star defensive tackle almost 24/7. Believe it or not, Bresee was one of Jarrett’s favorite high school recruits to watch growing up. He also mentioned guys like Page and Myles Murphy.
“Their D-line is loaded right now,” Jarrett said. “If I were to go to Clemson, by the time I would get there, some more spots would become open.”
As for Jarrett, a lot of people compare him to former University of Georgia standout defensive tackle Jordan Davis, because of the way he takes up space, fights off blocks and the way he can run for his size. He and Davis are pretty identical as far as size.
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