Clemson played host to a couple of big-time quarterback prospects last week, including The Loomis Chaffee School’s (Windsor, CT.) four-star Dante Reno
The Clemson Insider first detailed Clemson’s interest in Reno back in July, after his first-ever visit to campus. Now, he was finally able to make his return visit to campus on Wednesday and took in Clemson’s first padded scrimmage of the spring.
“It was awesome,” Reno said. “It was a good second visit. It was good talking to Coach Swinney and Coach Streeter again. They had a scrimmage that day, so it was good to watch and see how their offense operated.”
Reno’s favorite part of last Wednesday’s visit was watching practice, learning a bunch from what Clemson does offensively, how they operate on offense and how Streeter interacts with his players.
What did Reno hear from the coaching staff while he was on campus?
“I’m one of their couple of top guys that they have,” he said. “I think there’s a couple that are from down there and we’re all going back and throwing again in the summer. It was a good time. I was up there with (Chandler, AZ five-star quarterback) Dylan Raiola, so we kind of got to talk a little bit and see each other. It was good.”
Reno’s first visit to Clemson was this past summer, in which he participated in the Dabo Swinney Camp under Streeter’s direction. He’s built the relationship with Clemson’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, but this was his first time getting to see him coach his players up close and personal.
“It was awesome,” Reno said. “It was cool to see if something went wrong, how’d they react and if they’re doing good, how he’d also react. That was definitely pretty cool to see what they were doing and how he’d interact with the players, not just in a camp setting, but in a practice setting.”
He also had a chance to see Clemson’s quarterbacks in action during the scrimmage.
“They do a lot,” he said. “They do a little bit of under center stuff, they do some gun stuff. They have a good passing game. We watched film on their passing game and all that stuff. They have a pretty good setup for what they need at quarterback right now and what D.J. (Uiagalelei) can produce for them.”
Reno will be back at Clemson in early June.
Speaking of visits, Reno went on a gauntlet of them during his spring break. In addition to Clemson, he visited Georgia, Wake Forest and South Carolina. He also managed to pick up offers from Ole Miss and UCF
“I was actually in a rental car driving from Georgia,” Reno said. “It was good. Obviously, (Ole Miss) has a lot to offer with the offense they run and Coach (Lane) Kiffin and how he’s produced quarterbacks throughout the years.”
The Tigers are definitely up there in his recruitment, even without an offer.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Reno said. “The relationship that me and Coach Streeter have, I think it’s either one of the closest of the top relationships that I have with a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.”
“We’re really comfortable with each other,” he said of his relationship with Streeter, “and he’s always been straight up with me on their whole recruiting process and how slow they’re, what they’re gonna do at quarterback and how they only take one quarterback in a class. It’s been pretty fun.”
They broached the subject of an offer during the visit.
“Yeah, it was a little bit in the meetings,” Reno said. “The biggest thing for him is just like getting out on another visit this summer and see where everything goes from there.”
For Reno, it was pretty cool to see just how much his relationship has blossomed with Clemson in a span of 10 months.
“I’m a lot closer with all the guys,” he added. “I’m pretty close with Cade Klubnik, one of their quarterback commits, who’s actually already there now. It was cool to see Cade practice and just keep building a relationship with them.”
— Photo courtesy of Dante Reno’s Instagram (dreno10)
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