A day after landing the crown jewel in its 2023 recruiting class, another domino has fallen for Clemson.
Bridgeland (Texas) four-star tight end Reid Mikeska committed to Clemson on Wednesday night over schools like Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, LSU, Miami, Michigan State, Texas Tech, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida.
Mikeska talked about his decision to commit to Clemson in an exclusive phone interview with The Clemson Insider Tuesday.
“I definitely like the coaches there, the culture they have,” he said. “I’m a huge fan of Dabo Swinney and Coach (Kyle) Richardson. The culture definitely stood out to me. Coach Swinney takes care of his players after football, during football. It’s a great place to be if you wanna play football.
“Coach Richardson, we’ve had a great relationship for a while now. They’ve all been showing lots of love, Coach Richardson, Swinney, (offensive graduate assistant Andrew) Shipman and Tajh Boyd. They’ve all been amazing to me and my family.”
Mikeska is unsure if he would’ve committed had he been at Clemson’s Orange & White Spring Game this past Saturday as he had originally planned. His flight kept getting delayed and ultimately ended up getting canceled. Instead, Wednesday was just a day that fell in place as Mikeska feels more than ready to take this leap of faith.
He called Richardson and FaceTimed with Swinney on Sunday night to inform them of his decision.
“They were very happy and very excited,” he said.
If you’ve followed our recruiting coverage, we first identified Mikeska as a potential option for Clemson in an article that was penned on Jan. 29.
Shortly thereafter, Mikeska set a campus visit and received an offer from Clemson on Saturday, March 5, while on campus for the Tigers’ junior day. That’s when Mikeska identified Clemson as his top school and now, it’s slowly progressed to this point.
“Their tight end coach followed me and reached out and he was going to watch my film and keep in touch,” Mikeska said in a text message to TCI on Monday, Jan. 10. “That’s about it so far. Clemson is a dream school for me, so that was exciting.”
Three months and 93 days later, Mikeska is a Tiger.
“It’s definitely surreal because it all happened pretty fast,” he said. “I’m definitely very happy with it though. I’m very blessed for this awesome experience.”
What is Mikeska bringing to Clemson’s tight ends room?
“Just versatility, the ability to play all aspects of the tight end position,” Mikeska said. “I can block, run, catch, pretty much just do it all. They usually run 11-personnel, so I gotta come in and compete, but if on the field, they can put me in line or at h-block or a slot.”
Mikeska is planning to take his official visit from June 3-5. He will sign with Clemson during the early signing period in December, along with Christopher Vizzina, and will be a mid-year enrollee.
“We kind of got the class started,” he said. “Me and Vizzina. Once they see us commit, it’ll kind of get the ball rolling.”
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