Clemson made a huge impression recently while playing host to one of the nation’s top young defensive line prospects, who hails from the Volunteer State.
Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) defensive end Ethan Utley — a 6-foot-4, 250-pound freshman in the 2025 class — made his second visit to campus on Saturday, March 12 for the Tigers’ underclassmen day.
“It was great,” Utley told The Clemson Insider. “It was great to hear Coach Swinney talk about the logistics of the program and how things work around there. It was great to hear more about the P.A.W. Journey more in-depth because I remember I heard about it for the first time from the game day visit. It was great to see the practice. The practice was really exciting and something I wouldn’t mind being a part of.”
Believe it or not, his favorite part of the visit itself was getting to go down the slide.
Utley, who has a prior connection to Lemanski Hall, got to see Clemson’s defensive ends coach in his element and watched him run a practice, during his campus visit,
“It was great like it showed a lot about how he’s comfortable with how he interacts with his players,” Utley added. “It was great to see from my lens and I was loving Coach Nick Eason’s energy and what he was doing with the interior d-linemen. I love how controlled and how technically sound their group is.”
What did Utley hear from Hall during his campus visit?
“He was just talking about how I need to get back, so I can workout at Clemson one day and how they just loved having me back,” Utley said. “He’ll be back in Nashville for one of my spring practices.”
Hall previously told Utley that he should focus on building a relationship with Eason as well.
“I heard a lot,” Utley said regarding what he heard from Eason. “Me and Coach Eason talked for a really long time, just like talking about the game more than life. It was just great hearing from him. We were just talking about more than football basically. It was great being able to actually talk with him in-depth more one-on-one. It was a real cool experience to hear him know some people that I know that are close to me in my circle at Ensworth. That was a real cool experience.”
According to Utley, Clemson essentially passed along the message that if he keeps coming back and visiting that he’ll likely be offered by the time June 1 rolls around when he is a rising junior at Ensworth.
“Me and Coach Swinney talked and he was just saying how I need to come back and camp,” he said. “Then, Coach Hall said that the offer would come early in my junior year. It would be great (to earn an offer), I feel like at that point I’ll have established myself in the country and probably be one of the best. To add that offer, it would for sure put me on the map even on another level, considering the program that Clemson is.”
How does Utley feel about that?
“I really understand it,” he said, “because like Coach Swinney said in front of everybody, he doesn’t even know us yet. So, once a junior year comes around, it’s already two seasons that you have under your belt as a player and a person. I’m very understanding of that.”
Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!
