Recruiting isn’t new to Thomas Austin, but recruiting for his alma mater is.
Part of Austin’s first month on his new job as Clemson’s offensive line was spent on the road following his promotion at the end of last season. That’s when longtime offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell retired, and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney tapped Austin, a former Clemson offensive lineman himself, as Caldwell’s replacement.
Helping Clemson finalize its 2022 recruiting class was a whirlwind for one of its newest on-field assistants.
“It’s been a fun process, but a little busier,” Austin said during an appearance on Clemson’s national signing day radio show last week. “The first week was mainly in the Southeast, up in North Carolina and a little bit of Florida. The second week, I was in 10 states in five days. So it was a little bit of a blur.”
Austin last played for Clemson in 2009. He returned this past season as an offensive analyst after spending two seasons as Georgia State’s offensive line coach. Austin got his start in coaching on Swinney’s staff as a graduate assistant from 205-18, but only on-field staffers are allowed on the road to recruit.
Clemson signed its only two offensive line recruits, Greenville’s Collin Sadler and Strongsville (Ohio) product Blake Miller, during December’s early signing period. One of the primary objectives for Austin’s first couple of weeks on the road last month was to start establishing his own relationships with future prospective student-athletes and high school coaches both near and far, something Caldwell had four decades worth of experience nurturing in his coaching career.
“Huge shoes to fill,” Austin said “Got to go on the road a little bit these last two weeks, and I feel like every high school I went into, I had to say, ‘Hey, listen, I’m not Robbie Caldwell. I don’t have the stories that he has. I didn’t work at a turkey farm when I was 3 years old.’ But just the amount of respect he has, especially for high school coaches in the Southeast, and what he’s done creating some in-roads in Ohio, especially with offensive linemen, has been awesome. So I’m excited about it.”
As for representing his alma mater on the recruiting trail, Austin said that’s a different experience that he takes pride in.
“Having the Paw on your chest when you walk into a school has a different commanding presence to it than it does at other schools,” Austin said. “And the respect that high school coaches have for our program and the way our staff has done it the right way, gone through high school coaches and tries to be above reproach in recruiting and not breaking the rules on the road, all of those things go a long way with high school coaches.”
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