Originally from England, Joe Crocker and his family moved to the United States when he was in elementary school, and he didn’t start playing American football until he was in the fifth grade.
Crocker initially had aspirations of being a kicker/punter, but given his massive frame, he quickly figured out he was best suited to be an offensive lineman.
That has proved a good position for Crocker, a 6-foot-6, 310-pound junior with more than a dozen Division I scholarship offers under his belt.
Crocker, who attends Franklin Road Academy (Nashville, Tenn.), is rated as a four-star prospect and ranked as the No. 20 offensive tackle in the country for the 2023 class according to the 247Sports Composite.
“I moved (from England) when I was in fourth grade. I was about 10,” Crocker said in an interview with The Clemson Insider. “It was halfway through my fourth-grade year. I started playing in fifth grade. Pretty much because I was the big kid, I was always super tall and always in the 100th percentile, and they were like, ‘You can play, you’re big, we need you.’ And I was like, ‘OK, I don’t know what I’m doing.’ So, I totally didn’t know what I was doing, and my parents had no idea.
“I always had dreams of being a punter and a kicker. I can still kick now. I’m like a foot off a 50-yard field goal, but probably going to stick to the O-line. So, kind of got thrust into it. My mom, I’m pretty sure she was just looking at summer camps, trying to get me out of the house. She was looking at football camps and there just happened to be a lineman camp, and then from there I kind of realized I could play football and over time just fell in love with it.”
Crocker is on Clemson’s recruiting radar and has been hearing regularly from offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell.
“Coach Caldwell will reach out like once a week, or he’ll say congrats on my season or just kind of mostly stuff like that,” Crocker said. “He’ll always say, ‘Good luck on Friday,’ and just check in. I’ve been able to start texting him and hopefully can keep building that (relationship).”
Crocker camped at Clemson this past June, so he was able to work out and spend time with Caldwell, who gave Crocker a tour of the football facility following the camp session.
“I really enjoyed just being able to compete,” Crocker said of his camp experience. “The Clemson camps are run a little bit different, so it was good to work on your craft and it was good to experience how Coach Caldwell coaches. What I took away from my camping experience was just how they run things at Clemson.”
Crocker named Virginia, Tennessee, Michigan and Oklahoma as some of the schools he feels are pursuing him the hardest at this point in his recruiting process. Virginia, Tennessee and Michigan have offered him, along with schools such as Georgia, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, TCU and Virginia Tech.
So far, Clemson has only offered a few O-linemen in the 2023 class, but Crocker is hoping for an offer from the Tigers moving forward.
“Definitely would enjoy and definitely would like to get an offer from Clemson,” he said. “It would definitely impact [my recruitment] and it would definitely be one of the schools I would have to look at more. But I guess it depends on the timing, when that would be. For me, I’m a big person into having built a big relationship with people. To me, it’s definitely a school I’ve always wanted to get an offer from. I obviously went to camp, and Clemson was the only school that I went to camp that hadn’t offered in the summer.”
Although he doesn’t currently own that coveted Clemson offer, Crocker nonetheless appreciates the interest he has received from Caldwell and the Tigers.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “Clemson’s obviously a great pedigree of a school, one of the top schools in the country for football. They’re always competing for championships and obviously have won championships recently, so that’s pretty cool for sure, 100 percent.”
Crocker ideally wants to have his recruitment wrapped up by the time his senior season rolls around next year.
“I’m definitely hoping to commit by my senior year, early senior year,” he said. “I would like to have it wrapped up before senior season so I can have a year where I don’t really have to worry about it hopefully. So, that’s definitely when I would like to. If I feel a school is right, then I don’t really have any time when that could be. But any time before that, it could just be whenever I feel like I’ve explored all my options and just found a home.”
Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.
Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks
