During its 35-12 win over Furman this past Saturday at Memorial Stadium, Clemson played host to a fast-rising Peach State defensive back that has ties to the program.
College Park (Ga.) Douglas County’s Israel “Jacob” Boyce — a 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior in the class of 2024 — has been in contact with cornerbacks coach Mike Reed since the beginning of the month and returned to Tiger Town to take in Clemson’s first home game of the season Saturday.
“My time at the Clemson game was a great experience,” Boyce told The Clemson Insider in a phone interview Sunday night. “I felt like family as soon as I got there. I got to do a lot of stuff, like we got to run across the field, going up the hill — that was all a great experience. The coaching staff, I felt like they was very genuine.”
“I loved everything about the visit,” he added. “It was really different.”
Boyce has maintained close contact with Reed since Sept. 1. According to Boyce, Clemson’s cornerbacks coach “snuck up” on him before Clemson’s 23-point win and they exchanged pleasantries on the sideline pregame. They talked about how his season is going right now, but at the same time, Boyce estimates that they talk just about every day.
“I’m getting a lot of love (from Clemson),” Boyce said. “I’m feeding into it. It might be the one.”
Remember, Reed is also now the position coach of true freshman cornerback Myles Oliver, who is out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. That’s important to note here because Boyce and Oliver are close friends and former teammates at Douglas County High School.
Boyce speaks a good bit with Oliver, who he said: “definitely loves Clemson.”
He maintained Oliver, who missed the majority of preseason camp, is in a good headspace and has a great mindset.
Boyce got a chance to be in the locker room following Clemson’s first home win of the season. He got to speak with both Oliver and sophomore cornerback Nate Wiggins. Boyce added that he also had the opportunity to chop it up with Reed after the game.
“I was real comfortable,” Boyce said of being in the locker room postgame. “It felt like family. I was talking to some players during while they was dancing. It was pumped.”
Clemson was the first game day visit of the season for Boyce, who is looking to experience game days at ECU, Georgia Southern and Akron.
“The fanbase is crazy,” Boyce said, recapping his Clemson visit. “That fanbase is crazy. That’s the most people I’ve seen at a stadium I’ve been to, especially with the bad weather. That’s one thing when I was talking to Coach (DeAndre McDaniel) — he said that the stadium is always gonna be packed.”
While Clemson coach Dabo Swinney certainly wasn’t impressed with the way his team played defensively against Furman, Boyce left with some positive takeaways. The way Clemson’s defenders have a nose for the ball is something that stood out to Boyce about Wesley Goodwin’s defense.
“The way they swarm the ball,” he said. “They swarm the ball amazingly. They love to get to the ball and they try to get a lot of takeaways. It’s a lot of big hitters on the defense too. I love that. I love contact. I like to hear it.”
Boyce also detailed his own experiences through the first three games of his junior season. He’s recorded an interception and is No. 13 in the region for tackles. Boyce said he was moved to safety and had been moving around, in addition to leading Douglas County’s defense this season.
Most colleges are recruiting Boyce to play all over the secondary, whether it’s safety, nickel or corner.
In addition to Clemson, since Sept. 1, Boyce has heard from programs like Cincinnati, Marshall, Georgia Southern, Miami (OH.), Kansas State, Wake Forest, ECU, App State, as well as the schools that have offered him in Boston College, Buffalo, Liberty, Middle Tennessee State, Coastal Carolina, Arkansas State and Florida A&M.
Photo for this article courtesy of Israel Boyce.
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