The Clemson Insider recently caught up with an in-state wide receiver prospect.
Greenville (S.C.) 2024 WR Mazeo Bennett spent 15-20 minutes on the phone with Tyler Grisham last week, as the two continue to grow their relationship together.
GREAT conversation with @Coach_Grisham tonight! 🙏🏾 #allin #GoTigers 🐅🐅
— Mazeo “MJ” Bennett 🥷🏾 (@TheMazeoBennett) January 12, 2022
“Me and Coach Grisham we met at the Clemson game, that was our first time meeting,” Bennett said, “and every time we talk, it’s just like if I talked to him every day. It’s cool conversation. The conversation flows. It’s never a dull moment. We just talk and talk ‘til we gotta get off the phone.”
Bennett couldn’t find words to accurately describe his relationship with Clemson’s wide receivers coach. He used the word “great,” but believes at this point, it’s beyond that.
“His message was to me just keep doing what I’m doing,” Bennett said. “He loves what he’s seeing. The whole staff loves what they’re seeing. They want me. They’re interested in me. He was like “just keep being who I am.”
What does that mean to Bennett?
“It means everything,” he said, “coming from Clemson, that’s a prestigious school. For them to be telling me that they’re really interested in me, means a lot.”
He’s obviously aware of the program’s history of developing wide receivers and is quite fond of a former Clemson standout and current NFL superstar.
“I love watching DeAndre Hopkins,” Bennett said. “I mean, for me, my dream is to go to the NFL, but sometimes to me, every now and again, in the NFL it doesn’t seem like they’re having fun. It just seems like it’s their job.
For me, every time I watch DeAndre Hopkins, it seems like he’s having fun. Everything he does, he wants to be great at it. If you know his story, we’re from the same state. If you know his story and his upbringing, all you can say is ‘Wow.’ So, that’s one player I feel like I actually watch, study and try to be like.”
While Bennett is speedy and explosive, he knows that blocking is a key element of his game as a receiver.
“I’d describe myself as a go-getter, as a dog,” he said. “If you watch my film, the first 2-3 minutes of my film is just straight-up blocking. If you can’t block as a receiver, you are not doing your job. You can’t get the ball 100% of the time.”
Bennett says that he’ll be at Clemson quite a bit this summer. By then, both of his high school teammates — Collin Sadler and Josh Sapp — will officially be enrolled at Clemson.
With that being said, what did he learn from Sapp and Sadler about Clemson as he watched from afar while they underwent their own recruitment process?
“That everything that Clemson does is top-tier from the food to the communication to everything,” he said. “It’s just all top tier.”
A 6-foot, 165-pound sophomore, Bennett has collected early offers from South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia Tech and Coastal Carolina.
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