This rising junior wide receiver from the Peach State on Clemson’s recruiting radar returned to campus earlier this summer to participate in Dabo Swinney’s high school football camp.
Johns Creek (Ga.) High School’s Kyle Vaka — a 6-foot, 170-pound prospect in the class of 2024 — competed during the second day of the Swinney Camp on June 2.
Since then, Vaka made multiple camp visits and has been working towards a crucial junior season that lies ahead. Speaking with The Clemson Insider via a phone interview Saturday, Vaka detailed his current progress and recapped an eventful summer on the camp circuit.
“Summer’s been great,” Vaka said. “I’ve been going to a ton of camps. I went to Vanderbilt, Furman, Kennesaw State, and Clemson, of course, and we also got summer workouts going on with our high school team. I’m focused on the season and how we can win games. And then also I’m training with my wide receiver trainer as well, so I got a lot going on football-wise. It’s been fun, but it’s been a grind.”
While we spoke with Vaka earlier this summer about his Swinney Camp experience, he went into further detail about his conversations with Tyler Grisham. Vaka said that Clemson’s wide receivers coach was very clear with him, which he appreciates.
“He said that he loved the way I competed and he loved the way that I worked with the top group of wide receivers,” Vaka said. “There was guys like (Clemson commit) Noble Johnson and Winston Watkins, so there were some big names in there. He loved the way I competed. He loved the way that I was coachable. He told me that this junior season is critical and what I can put on tape this junior season is gonna mean a lot.”
Vaka has been working for it and he’s ready for it.
Going back to his camp experience, when we messaged with Vaka following his participation in last month’s Swinney Camp, he told us that he didn’t start off the morning session quite like he wanted to, but he was able to turn up his game a notch that afternoon.
“I think when I got to the camp, there was a really talented group of guys there and I knew I’d fit in with those guys,” he said. “I think it just took me a minute to realize, ‘Hey, I’m where these guys are and I belong here.’ Once I realized that and I tapped into that confidence that I knew I had, things just took off.”
Once Vaka realized he belonged in the top group of wideouts, he started to feel a lot more comfortable. It didn’t take Vaka long to flip the switch. Football is supposed to be fun and once he let loose and competed with confidence, good things started to happen. To him, that’s what football is all about. When Vaka does his best and he plays his best, he’s always having fun.
That will be an important lesson for Vaka this upcoming season and that’s with his junior campaign being critical to his recruitment. He essentially got similar feedback from all of the schools he camped at this summer. They mostly all relayed to him that they’ll be keeping an eye on what he’s able to accomplish during his junior season.
“That’s been the message,” Vaka reiterated. “They like what they see, but it’s all about my junior tape and what I can put on film to confirm what they’ve seen in person.
Of course, things will become a lot easier for Vaka when college programs around the country are eligible to start directly contacting prospects like himself in the class of 2024 come Sept. 1.
Vaka has previously spoken highly of the Tigers in past conversations with TCI and is hopeful that with the relationship he’s been able to build with Grisham, Clemson will be among the programs that reach out to him at the beginning of September.
“I’m hopeful and I’m confident that my relationship with Clesmon and Coach Grisham will continue,” he said. “My mindset right now is just controlling what I can control and that’s how hard I work, that’s how much I put into my high school team and how we can win games and how I can help us win games. When all that’s said and done and when I control what I can control, it’s in God’s hands at that point. That’s all I can do.”
Vaka continued his praise for Clemson’s wide receivers coach.
“Coach Grisham’s a special coach because the biggest thing I noticed at Clemson’s camp is four-star Noble Johnson was there and Coach Grisham didn’t hesitate at all to coach him up,” Vaka said. “He was hard on him at times, but it just shows you that he’s not just there to be nice and try to recruit you to get there. He’s there to coach you and he’s there to get you better. He cares about everyone there.
“A lot of these coaches, some of them are very Hollywood and they have their guys. If you aren’t one of their guys, then they might not talk to you. No, Coach Grisham, he knows everyone in the group, he coaches everyone up in the group and he’s willing to talk to everyone about football and life. He’s just a good guy and a genuine guy.”
That’s also why Clesmon has become one of Vaka’s favorite camps to attend over the years.
“Clemson’s camp has always been my favorite, even when I went there last year and I didn’t have any connections there,” Vaka said, “because Clemson’s camp is all about just playing football and competing. It’s not a whole combine…you’re just simply going out there and playing football and at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. ‘Hey, maybe you can run faster than me, maybe you can jump farther, but can you beat me on this rep? I don’t know about that.’ That’s really what Clemson’s all about is just playing football at their camp and that’s what I love about it.”
— Photo by Dawson Powers / The Clemson Insider.
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