Clemson made a major impression over the weekend on a priority safety target, who traveled to campus for the program’s Elite Junior Day.
Selma (Alabama) 2023 four-star safety DaKaari Nelson was blown away by his first visit to campus and left Clemson with an offer in hand.
“It was a great experience,” he told The Clemson Insider in a phone interview Saturday night. “I kind of expected it to be in the middle of a big city, but it’s really not. It’s like its own city and I like that.
What was the highlight of his visit?
“It was definitely meeting Coach Swinney and seeing how social he was,” Nelson said. “With being a well-known coach and a great one at that, I was expecting him to be holed up in the office somewhere all day. But, he was out socializing with everyone.”
At one point during Saturday’s festivities, Clemson had the recruits break out into their position groups. Nelson was, of course, the only safety on campus, so he got some one-on-one time with Mickey Conn.
Nelson was going over some film with Conn when Clemson’s co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach told him that he saw him playing in a particular position and that’s why the Tigers were going to offer him a scholarship.
“It means a lot with the winning history and the well-known name of the university,” Nelson said. “So with them offering, it means a lot. The way they recruited me before they offered, it helped them a lot, so they stand high in my offers.”
Conn was showing Nelson a lot of the different coverages that Clemson runs and where he would position him and how they view him. Nelson said that he feels like he’d fit in quite well in the Tigers’ defensive scheme.
What was Clemson’s coaching staff’s message to Nelson driving his visit?
“They basically were telling me how they’d been watching me a lot before they offered me,” he added. “And they were surprised by how big I am in person. On paper, it sounds good, but they were really surprised about how big I was in person.”
If you can recall, Nelson told TCI prior to his visit that Swinney wanted to see him in person and size him up before Clemson pulled the trigger on an offer.
Nelson has been on Clemson’s radar for a while now. Conn had stopped by Selma High School to watch him play and meet with his coaches, but he never had the chance to have a face-to-face encounter with him.
That changed Saturday.
“It was really great,” Nelson said, “because when he comes to (Selma), it’s either during a game or we can’t talk during school. So, I really don’t get to say what’s up or whatever. Being able to talk to him in person, I got to ask a lot of questions I’ve been waiting to ask.”
Nelson was accompanied by his mother and his three little sisters on his visit to campus.
“They really liked it,” he said. “Out of all the visits I’ve been on, this right here was definitely top-2 to them. They liked how all the coaches and coaches’ wives knew me or either heard about me.”
He’ll return to Clemson’s campus sometime in the near future, either to watch a spring practice or for the spring game itself.
Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!
