The Clemson Insider caught up with one of Clemson’s top targets in the class of 2023, who recently saw one of his closest friends verbally pledge to the Tigers earlier this week.
Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.) four-star defensive end Hunter Osborne gave the latest on his recruitment and how things have progressed with Clemson since he was last on campus and earned an offer from the Tigers.
“They really want me,” Osborne said. “I don’t want to say that they need me, because they can get anyone in the country that they want, but they’re really showing the effort that they truly want me as a player and a person. The relationship is there. We talk every single week. Me and Coach (Wesley) Goodwin, Coach (Lemanski) Hall and Coach (Nick) Eason, we talk all the time. They’re just showing that they really want me.”
“It’s progressed a lot,” he said regarding his relationship with Clemson’s coaching staff. “We already had a good relationship, but that was before I had the offer. Getting the offer, it’s only built our relationship even stronger. We talk all the time, like I said. We talk every other day. It’s progressed a lot, tremendously, I’d say.”
One of Clemson’s selling points to Osborne is that he may have a chance to come in and play right away. That’s been Hall’s selling point and the same message he shared with reporters earlier this spring.
“I want to be able to showcase my abilities as early as I can,” he said, “and playing for a winning program like Clemson and having a chance to possibly play right away, that’s huge. (Coach Hall) told me they’re losing a lot next year, so they’re recruiting guys, who they feel are mature on and off the field, getting it done in the classroom and be able to provide for them next season.”
Clemson feels like Osborne can be that guy.
If you follow them on social media, you’d know that Osborne is very close friends with Christopher Vizzina, who verbally pledged his commitment to Clemson this past Tuesday. They’ve often talked about teaming up with each other at the next level.
Vizzina told TCI that he was going to recruit Osborne’s “butt off.”
“It really means a lot to me,” Osborne said. “I’ve always said since I’ve started my recruitment that I want to play with him. We have a really tight relationship. His going there only makes Clemson (more attractive) than they already were. Clemson’s a great program. They’ve already established themselves as one of the best in the business, but with him going there, it just makes them a lot more convinced to want to go there.”
“That is truly one of the greatest guys I’ve met at this age,” he continued regarding Vizzina. “Very genuine, very humble guy. We’ve talked about more than football, just about life. That’s one of my good friends, getting to know him these past few years. There’s nothing but good things to say about him. He’s a great dude. I love him off the field, but definitely off the field as well.”
Vizzina has already started recruiting Osborne. Even before he committed to Clemson, Osborne had been receiving texts from him for at least two weeks straight saying, ‘We’re playing college football together.’
Clemson’s prized quarterback commit would send the same text over and over every single day.
Osborne will be taking his official visit to Clemson from June 3-5, the same time as Vizzina, Reid Mikeska and several other top targets like Branden Strozier, Harris Sewell and Braxton Myers, to name a few.
Osborne will take his official visits before he makes his final college decision, which he estimates will be between late-August and early-September. He announced a top-10 list on March 14, which featured the Tigers along with Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Miami, Auburn, Southern Cal and Oregon.
So far, Clemson is the only school out of those 10 that he’s set an official visit to. He’s hoping that his next visit to Tiger Town will confirm what he already feels about the Clemson program.
When it comes time for Osborne to make a decision, what are some of the more important factors that are gonna play into that?
“Definitely the education,” he said. “Can they provide me with a great education? Because football doesn’t last forever. The development of me as a player and as a person as well. How can you change me in the next three to four years that I’m at your program? And then honestly, the relationship that I have with the staff and how I fit in.”
Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!
