A standout defensive back picked up an offer from Clemson on Thursday after participating in the morning session of the Dabo Swinney Camp.
St. Joseph’s Prep School (Philadelphia, Pa.) four-star cornerback Omillio Agard announced the offer from the Tigers via social media Thursday afternoon.
Agard caught up with The Clemson Insider and spoke at length regarding his new offer on Friday.
“It was a great experience,” Agard said. “They showed me a lot of love. It was my first time down there, so they left a great first impression. There’s nothing like it. They’re just different down there. I can’t explain it all. I can’t even put it into words, it was just amazing.
“Getting that offer means a lot because I’ve been building a relationship with Coach Reed and the coaches for over a year now, so it’s like, ‘Wow, they really believe in me,’ because I’m one of the first offers in the class. It means a lot and they don’t offer too many guys, so I’m just grateful. I’m definitely high on them and they’re high on me. We’re gonna see where this goes in the next couple of years.”
About 30 minutes after Agard had camped, he was hanging out in the player’s lounge with some of his teammates, who came along for the visit. Reed came up to Agard and shook his hand. That’s when he told the Philadelphia native that he had earned the offer and that he would be offering him a scholarship.
What’s his relationship like with Reed?
“He’s an intense guy,” Agard said of Clemson’s cornerbacks coach. “When we were talking yesterday, he said, ‘My players make me feel young again,’ because it’s like he’s back playing the sport. He’s very passionate and he wants us to get better. He wants us to reach our goals and that’s one of the big parts of yesterday. I love him as a coach. Ever since we’ve been on the phone, he’s always been a nice, energetic guy. He wants to know me off the field because he already knows me on the field as a player and he got to see it first-hand. He’s a great coach, definitely one of my favorite coaches in the country.”
During Agard’s visit, he went to the player’s locker room. He walked up to his former teammate at Prep, Jeremiah Trotter, Jr., and told him that he got the offer. Trotter already knew.
He wasn’t the only one. Both Sheridan Jones and Toriano Pride, Jr. were watching Agard during the morning session of Swinney Camp and they already knew he was getting an offer. They just didn’t tell him.
That shows Agard that participating in Thursday’s Swinney Camp was the right decision and that he truly earned the offer.
“They don’t offer kids that they don’t see in person,” Agard said. “I knew that they were really interested in me, but I thought that if I camped, it would give them no stone unturned and they will be 100% on offering me and being one of their top guys. Even if I didn’t do the camp, they were gonna offer, but when I did the camp and showed them what I had, it was like a no-brainer.”
During his visit, Agard got a chance to talk with Clemson coach Dabo Swinney for about 30 minutes. According to Agard, Swinney was telling him that he’s the type of guy that they want in their program because he’s a great person with good academics.
“I just check every box,” Agard recalled, “and they check all my boxes at a school that I want to be at. It just all fell into place. Coach Swinney’s a great guy and he just showed me that I’m wanted.”
“I’m really high on Clemson now,” he added. “I see myself there. I could be a Tiger. It was just great.
Agard (6-0, 173) is ranked as the No. 3 cornerback and No. 37 overall prospect in the 2024 class by Rivals, while 247Sports considers him the No. 7 corner and No. 75 overall prospect in the class.
