Recruiting Roundup: Tracking Clemson’s coaches on the trail

The Clemson Insider kept track of where Clemson’s coaches traveled to on the recruiting trail this week. So, we rounded up the visits we could account for in a recruiting notebook. Here’s a roundup of where Clemson’s coaches have been on the …

The Clemson Insider kept track of where Clemson’s coaches traveled to on the recruiting trail this week. So, we rounded up the visits we could account for in a recruiting notebook.

Here’s a roundup of where Clemson’s coaches have been on the recruiting trail and which prospects they visited with. Of course, NCAA rules don’t permit direct contact between coaches and recruits in the classes of 2023-25, but Clemson’s coaches did stop by a lot of schools and met with a lot of head coaches and assistants this week.

Quarterback

This week, Clemson quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter visited the nation’s No. 1 quarterback in Isidore Newman (New Orleans, LA.) five-star Arch Manning and top Clemson target in Briarwood Christian (Birmingham, Ala.) four-star Christopher Vizzina.

Streeter and Dabo Swinney came to Vizzina’s basketball game on Monday.

“That was pretty cool,” Vizzina said. “Coach Swinney walks in, everybody knows who he is. You could hear the crowd talking and everything. That was really cool. They stayed the whole game. We won. He saw me catch an alley-oop dunk, which he was talking about and everything. That was pretty special. I’ll remember that for a while.”

Vizzina (6-3, 200) currently ranks as the No. 8 quarterback prospect and No. 87 overall prospect regardless of position, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

On Friday, Streeter stopped by to visit with the head coach of Brookwood (Snellville, Ga.) 2023 four-star Dylan Lonergan.

Lonergan (6-2, 215) ranks as the No. 9 quarterback prospect and No. 86 overall prospect regardless of position, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Running Back

Clemson has stopped by the school(s) of at least three running back targets this week, with two of them being considered the best backs in their respective recruiting classes.

We mentioned yesterday that Dabo Swinney stopped by the high school of the nation’s No. 1 running back in the 2023 recruiting class in Lehigh Senior High School (Lehigh Acres, Fla.) five-star Richard Young.

On Friday, Swinney, along with running backs coach C.J. Spiller and co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach Mickey Conn stopped by Blessed Trinity Catholic (Roswell, Ga.), which is the home of 2023 four-star running back Justice Haynes.

Haynes, of course, has presented himself as a legitimate option at the running back position in the class of 2023. He received an offer from Clemson after competing at the Swinney Camp this past summer.

He is ranked as the No. 1 running back and No. 17 overall prospect in the 2023 class by Rivals.

Last, but certainly not least is Parish Episcopal School (Dallas, TX.) 2022 three-star running back, Andrew Paul, who will be officially visiting Clemson this weekend.

Brandon Streeter stopped by Parish on Tuesday to visit with the program’s head coach, Daniel Novakov. C.J. Spiller was supposed to join them, but bad weather prevented him from making it out to Dallas.

However, Paul was later visited by both Spiller and Streeter who stopped by his training session with Brandon Williams on Wednesday.

Williams, who trains the three-star running back at FASST Performance & Fitness and has done so for the past three and a half years. He’s worked every step of the way with the Parish Episcopal School (Dallas, TX.) product.

Spiller and Streeter chatted with Paul a little bit before his training session Thursday. They didn’t want to interrupt but just were there to observe the running back prospect, who has become a priority for Clemson in the 2022 recruiting class.

Williams spoke with TCI ahead of Paul’s visit to Clemson this weekend.

“It was really good,” Williams said. “They were kind guys. They were real cool. They liked the workouts I did. They were just enjoying it.”

Williams had a chance to speak with Spiller and praised him for staying for the entirety of Paul’s state playoff game last month. Most coaches wouldn’t stay the entire time, but Paul kept Spiller “in tune,” according to Williams.

Wide Receiver 

Swinney and Clemson wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham stopped by the high school of a recently offered prospect in the 2023 recruiting class on Wednesday.

They visited Rolesville (Raleigh, N.C.), the home of four-star WR Noah Rogers, who picked up an offer from Clemson on Wednesday, Jan. 12.

TCI spoke to Rolesville’s wide receivers coach Malik Frazier after Rogers earned the offer from the Tigers and again after Clemson stopped by this week.

“It was really cool, man,” Frazier said. “I never got to meet Coach Swinney in person. That was a first-time experience. He’s everything as advertised. He’s a genuine guy.”

“They really like Noah, obviously, and they’re going after him pretty hard,” he added. “They told us that he’s a special one and that they want to get him down for their junior day. They want to get him down on campus as soon as possible.”

Frazier indicated that Rogers is “definitely” a priority for Clemson.

“The way they came to the school, I mean they could’ve went anywhere, and they came to little ‘ol Rolseville, North Carolina to come see him,” he said.

Rogers (6-3, 185) is ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the Tar Heel State, No. 10 wide receiver nationally and No. 55 overall prospect in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Grisham has also stopped by and visited Lakeland (Fla.) High School on multiple occasions now. Lakeland, of course, is the home of 2023 four-star wide receiver Tyler Williams

Grisham stops by school of 4-star Sunshine State WR

Additionally, Clemson stopped by Milton High School (Alpharetta, GA.) at the end of the school day on Thursday.

Mickey Conn spoke with the program’s head coach on a couple of prospects, including 2024 four-star wide receiver Debron Gatling, who has been on the Tigers’ radar.

“It means a lot because I know that there’s a lot of talented prospects in Georgia and they took their time to come to see me,” Gatling told The Clemson Insider in a phone interview Thursday night.

Kyle Richardson

TCI has learned that Clemson tight ends coach Kyle Richardson stopped by three high schools, among several this week.

Richardson visited Robbinsdale Cooper (Minneapolis, MN.) on Tuesday and later offered the 2023 four-star tight end.

“It was really good to be able to have the coach come in and check in with me and be able to pick up the phone and call Jaxon and say, ‘Hey Jaxon, I have somebody here that wants to talk on the phone with you.’ That’s a good feeling for him and I can only imagine what he looked like when he got the offer,” Jaxon’s father and head coach, Willie, told TCI.

Howard (6-4, 245) ranks as the No. 7 athlete, No. 80 overall prospect nationally and No. 1 recruit in the state of Minnesota for the 2023 recruiting class.

Richardson also visited Central Catholic (Lawrence, MA.) 2023 four-star TE Preston Zinter and on Friday, he visited Charlotte Catholic (Charlotte, N.C.) 2024 four-star TE Jack Larsen.

Larsen (6-3, 220) ranks as the No. 2 tight end in the 2023 recruiting class, per 247Sports. While the 247Sports Composite rankings have Zinter (6-3, 220) ranked as the No. 28 ATH in the 2023 class.

Thomas Austin

Austin, Clemson’s offensive line coach, has been all over the recruiting trail this week.

On Monday, he was in attendance for Findlay (Oh.) 2023 four-star offensive tackle Luke Montgomery’s basketball game. TCI caught up with Montgomery’s head coach at Findlay, Stefan Adams, on Tuesday.

“Coach Austin’s visit was awesome,” Adams said. “Anytime he comes around, I know, personally I enjoy it. He’s a very authentic human being. He was able to come check out Luke and watch and see him in a different light from an athletic realm and also a leadership realm too. I think it was a very positive experience. He displayed and Luke showed some of those unique qualities that he has in his arsenal from an athletic standpoint, his leadership ability amongst the guys and kind of the groove and way he gets along with everybody.

On Tuesday, Austin was accompanied by Swinney at the basketball game of Oceanside Collegiate Academy 2023 four-star offensive tackle Monroe Freeling.

Swinney keeps promise, visits for priority in-state OL’s basketball game

Austin made four other stops that TCI can account for.

On Wednesday, he traveled to Providence Day (Charlotte, N.C.), where Austin has known the program’s head coach, Chad Grier since he was Georgia State.

“Really good dude,” Grier said of Austin. “I like him a lot.”

Austin’s first visit to Providence Day was an evaluation visit. They have seven prospects that hold Power 5 offers: 2023 three-star DB Chris Peal, 2024 four-star QB Jadyn Davis, 2024 four-star WR Channing Goodwin, 2024 WR Jordan Shipp, 2024 safety Brody Barnhardt, 2025 OL David Sanders and 2025 CB Braxton Winston.

“I think he’s got the chance to be the best prospect I’ve ever coached,” Grier said of Sanders. “He’s special. He’s really, really good. He’s a unique talent and a first-class young man in every way.”

He also traveled to Northwestern High School (Rock Hill, S.C.) to visit with the head coach of 2023 OT Jordan Knox.

Thursday, Austin was at Centennial High School (Roswell, Ga.), to check in on 2024 four-star offensive tackle Daniel Calhoun, who ranks as the No. 2 player at his position in his recruiting class, per 247Sports.

He also traveled to the Baylor School (Chattanooga, TN), the home of 2023 four-star IOL Brycen Sanders, who told TCI last week that Austin would be dropping by his school sometime in the near future.

“Since Coach Austin took over, he’s been texting me a lot,” Sanders said. “He’s actually coming down to my school next Thursday to watch me practice wrestling, just see me in person and meet with my coaches. I think I’m gonna head down there in March for one of their junior days, they invited me for that. A bunch of their coaches have reached out and followed me on Twitter.”

“He definitely seems like a really cool guy,” Sanders said of Austin. “I got to meet him when I was in camp over the summer. He taught me some stuff and he’s just really, really good at communicating with technique and stuff. He seems like a great guy.”

Sanders is ranked by 247Sports as the nation’s No. 8 interior offensive lineman and No. 5 overall prospect in the state of Tennessee for the 2023 recruiting class.

Wes Goodwin

Clemson’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach made several trips on the recruiting trail this past week. We know that Wes Goodwin, along with Swinney and Streeter made an in-home visit with Gaither (Tampa, Fla) 2022 three-star linebacker Kobe McCloud, ahead of his official visit this weekend.

While in the Sunshine State, Goodwin checked in on another linebacker in Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville, Fla.) 2023 four-star linebacker Grayson Howard.

The fast-rising linebacker prospect recently set a visit to Clemson for the program’s Elite Junior Day on Jan. 29.

Howard (6-3, 215) ranks as the No. 15 linebacker in the country for the 2023 recruiting class, per 247Sports. Howard lists nearly 30 offers, including from the University of South Carolina, which he unofficially visited this weekend.

We also know that Goodwin stopped by the high school of one of the nation’s top cornerbacks in 2023 four-star Sharif Denson. We spoke with Chad Parker on Friday, who serves as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Bartram Trail.

According to Parker, Goodwin came in to ask about some prospects they have like Denson, who ranks as the No. 18 cornerback in the 2023 recruiting class, per the 247Sports Composite.

Bartram Trail also has a 2024 kicker in Liam Padron, who Parker said they also spoke about. Padron led the nation in field goals made this year. And then they have a 2024 quarterback by the name of Riley Trujillo, that just picked up offers from Georgia Tech and Louisville.

Lemanski Hall

Hall hits the recruiting trail hard Wednesday

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