Clemson continues to impress a fast-rising Carolinas linebacker who was on campus on Saturday, March 12 for the Tigers’ underclassmen day.
East Lincoln (Denver, N.C.) 2023 inside linebacker Ben Cutter had been keeping close contact with Wesley Goodwin, who invited him to come up earlier this month, for what was his first unofficial visit that wasn’t tied to a camp or gameday trip.
“It was great,” Cutter told The Clemson Insider Sunday. “I got to meet Coach Goodwin and I really like him as a person. He’s a great guy. We had a position meeting and he knows what he’s talking about. He’s very smart with football and how he sets things up on the field. Clemson’s always just a great place to be. A lot of my core values are the same as Coach Swinney’s and he implements them into the program, which is just amazing being there.”
This was Cutter’s first time meeting Clemson’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in person.
“It was cool,” he said. “I got to talk to (Coach Goodwin) a little bit after the visit, one-on-one. It’s good being able to see him in person because that helps build the relationship rather than just texting each other.
“I definitely learned a lot about their defense and Coach Goodwin is good at teaching. A lot of people told me that his best attribute is that he’s a great teacher and I could tell just by being in the meeting that he’s a great teacher. The way in which he sets up the defensive calls and defensive plays, it just makes it easier to learn some of the calls they use and the way they correlate together.”
Cutter likes the defense and feels like he could fit in pretty well, he said.
Goodwin has only seen Cutter move around a little bit, but he wants to see the fast-rising linebacker participate in this upcoming summer’s Dabo Swinney Camp before pulling the trigger on an offer.
“We talked and he said that they’re interested,” Cutter said of a potential offer.
Cutter went to a Rivals camp in Charlotte (N.C.) a couple of weeks ago and he got some film out of him doing some one-on-ones in position drills. Cutter feels like the film he put out, which helped him earn the camps’ linebacker MVP, is really good and is hopeful that it’ll start sparking some interest from some high-profile programs
A day later, he picked up an ACC offer from the University of Louisville.
“It meant a lot,” he said. “Obviously for the coaches, I have a lot of respect for them because a lot of the Power Five programs like to wait around for the first (school) to offer, then they’ll start doing it. I definitely respect Coach (Derek) Nicholson — the inside linebackers coach — he’s the one who offered me. I respect him a lot for being the first one and I think it’s a big step for me to get my name out there more.”
Cutter wants to get back to Clemson soon, but he’s not sure when he’ll go because he has some visits that he has to make dates for that he hasn’t been on yet. Cutter will be visiting Louisville and South Carolina soon, as well as visiting App State on Saturday, April 9.
While he won’t be able to make Clemson’s spring game, he indicated that he’ll definitely camp at Clemson this summer.
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