A standout linebacker recruit, who hails from the state of Virginia and is on Clemson’s radar, returned to campus earlier this summer. Culpeper (Va.) Eastern View High School’s Brett Clatterbaugh -a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker in the class of …
A standout linebacker recruit, who hails from the state of Virginia and is on Clemson’s radar, returned to campus earlier this summer.
Culpeper (Va.) Eastern View High School’s Brett Clatterbaugh —a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker in the class of 2025, participated in the Dabo Swinney Camp on June 2
“I had been down there at the beginning of April and I was really impressed with the facilities and the hospitality was really good,” Clatterbaugh recently told The Clemson Insider in a phone interview. “As a young player at a high-status program, it’s cool to have them respect you and recognize you.”
Clatterbaugh was a huge fan of how Clemson coach Dabo Swinney ran his camp. A lot of the college camps around the country are more so focused on your 40 times and what your measurables are, but not Clemson.
“They cared more about what you can do as a position player than what your 40 time is and different things like that,” he said.
When Clatterbaugh participated in last month’s Swinney Camp, he worked out at the linebacker position under the direction of Wesley Goodwin. With that said, what type of feedback did he receive from Clemson’s defensive coordinator/linebackers coach?
“I got really good feedback,” Clatterbaugh said. “(Coach Goodwin) was very impressed with my size and my skills — that’s what he said — being that I’m only a rising sophomore. He invited me back to as many games as I wanted. He said that he’s looking forward to seeing me at camp next year, so that’s always a positive.”
He described Goodwin as being “really high-energy” and someone who comes across as “really personable” to his players with his teaching style. Clatterbaugh said that Goodwin taught him a lot of different things that he can take back to his school.
Clatterbaugh made sure he collected all of Goodwin’s contact information, so he can keep in touch with him going forward. According to Clatterbaugh, Goodwin really gave him the impression to look forward to getting back down to Clemson’s campus.
If Clatterbaugh would be able to mean an offer from a school like Clemson, what would that mean for him and his recruitment?
“I think it would really spike it a lot because they’re a national championship team,” Clatterbaugh said. “They’re a high, prominent program. All the coaches there are very recognized. It’s an offer that a lot of kids want and a lot of three, four-stars, everybody like, still don’t even get it. That’s how much it means. It would be an honor more than anything.”
“The Clemson offer is a very prestigious offer,” he continued. “It’s one that not everybody gets and it was really exciting, I guess you could say for me, to have made such a good impression on Coach Goodwin and his staff. It gave me something to really look forward to going into summer next year and my sophomore season this year, to get an offer from them.”
As far as Clatterbaugh’s recruitment is concerned, he said that everything’s been going well. Coming from a small public school in North Central Virginia, Clatterbaugh says that his program isn’t super recognized for having big-time recruits.
Until this year, Eastern View didn’t have anybody go to Division I on scholarship. One of his teammates in the class of 2023, Brayden Walker, committed to Elon on July 14. Clatterbaugh views it as not only his responsibility but his team’s as well, to show the rest of the country that they can “ do it.”
The biggest question mark that has often been raised is the competition Eastern View faces. That was quickly put to rest, as Clatterbaugh has added offers from Virginia Tech, Penn State, Marshall, West Virginia, Virginia, South Carolina, Coastal Carolina and Wake Forest, since hitting the camp circuit this summer.
“It was kind of more showing what I can do than anything,” he said.
Clatterbaugh is a self-described hard-nosed, strategic player, who is a downhill linebacker that plays the MIKE position. He also knows the game well and uses it to his advantage. He’s more of a defensive quarterback, so to speak.
He was told by Goodwin that his playstyle fits Clemson very well.
“They don’t always have the fastest, strongest or biggest linebackers, but they somehow always have the best at the end of the day,” Clatterbaugh said. “He said that the way I play and the way I know the game fits the way he likes his linebackers to play, especially at the MIKE position.”
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