With the start of fall camp just weeks away, Thomas Austin had a chance to speak with reporters on Tuesday for the first time since the first-year offensive line picked up three verbal commitments in the class of 2023.
Austin was asked about getting back on the road and what his message has been now that he’s an assistant coach on Dabo Swinney’s staff.
“I think it’s certainly been encouraging to see that our brand is strong, the message resonates with the right guys and the right families,” Austin said Tuesday. “With all this NIL and portal stuff, the college landscape is up in the air a little bit and there’s some confusion. Coach Swinney said the other day, ‘The more chaotic college football becomes, the more attractive Clemson will become to the right guys.”
Austin and the Tigers landed their most recent offensive line commitment on Monday, July 4, from Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy (McDonough, Ga.) four-star Zechariah Owens, a highly touted prospect ranked as high as the nation’s No. 8 offensive tackle and No. 67 overall prospect in the country for the 2023 class by 247Sports.
Owens joins a couple of other acclaimed offensive linemen in Clemson’s 2023 class — a pair of Lone Star State standouts in Permian High School (Odessa, Texas) four-star Harris Sewell and Vandegrift High School (Austin, Texas) four-star Ian Reed.
Sewell is tabbed as a top-100 national prospect regardless of position by ESPN (No. 65 overall), Rivals (No. 99) and the 247Sports Composite (No. 73), the latter of which considers him the No. 2 interior offensive lineman in the class. Reed, meanwhile, is also well respected across the board as a consensus four-star prospect who is ranked as high as the No. 13 offensive tackle and No. 143 overall prospect in the 2023 class.
“I think we’ve been able to identify the right guys that fit our culture, fight our program and the right families that fit our program,” he said. “I think there’s affirmation through the summer that those guys really want to be at Clemson. I think it’s been very encouraging for us.”
What Austin wasn’t aware of until he got on the road is while everybody talks about Clemson, there’s a lot more negative recruiting going on than he originally realized. Austin indicated that when Clemson recruits against other schools on the recruiting trail, the coaches talk about Clemson, but they don’t talk about other people or other programs.
“I think there was some people that were trying to expose some chinks in the armor for Clemson, that ‘Hey, that this is the beginning of the end for us.’ I think it was good affirmation for us to be like, ‘Hey, there’s a lot of questions, but we’re well positioned with NIL. We have the best facilities in the country. We have great resources that work. Our guys are gonna come here and have incredible opportunities. We’re not leading with those conversations, right? It’s about our culture. It’s about our education. It’s about the fit. It’s about P.A.W. Journey. It’s about everything else that Clemson has to offer. That’s attractive for the right guys.”
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