Clemson now has its eyes on a fast-rising defensive tackle in the class of 2022, who’s a bit of a late bloomer.

Cardinal Gibbons’s (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) three-star defensive tackle Ahmad Moten believes that Clemson’s interest in him is real and genuine and the Tigers just want to see him in person again before they offer him.

“I’ve been talking to Coach Bates and Coach Venables,” Moten told TCI. “They said they liked my film and all that. They were trying to get me up there this [past] weekend.”

Moten was hoping to make the trip up to The Valley for this past weekend’s game against Wake Forest, but he was unable to attend because Cardinal Gibbons, also the alma mater of freshman receiver Troy Stellato, had a game of its own.

“I was with him last year,” Moten said. “We’ve been talking about Clemson. He told me that they work hard over there no matter what.”

He did, however, take an unofficial visit up to Clemson earlier this past summer. He took a tour with eight of his high school teammates at the end of June before the dead period.

“It was Clemson, you know? It doesn’t get bigger than that,” he said. “Coach Venables is such a big name, giving us a tour. It’s crazy. He was showing us, love, showing us around. We went bowling with him. We played basketball. It just felt like that even though they didn’t know us, that they were still treating us like we’re somebody.”

Since then, how has Moten’s relationship developed with Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables and defensive tackles coach Todd Bates?

“We talk a lot now,” Moten said. “[Coach Venables] texts me on Twitter. I talk to Coach Bates a lot. I talk with both of them a lot. The relationship can only go up from there.”

You don’t need to tell him wice, Moten’s aware of Clemson’s history at his position. The recent development and pipeline of defensive tackles to the league goes a long way and is certainly an intriguing prospect to Moten when considering his recruitment

“I’ve been watching Christian [Wilkins], Austin [Bryant], Dexter [Lawrence]. I used to watch all of them,” he said. “I know Clemson and how they D-line role. They’re doing something right.”

Moten’s recruitment is 100% open. He’s taking his time, as his recruitment took some time getting started. In addition to Clemson’s interest heating up, he’s received offers from Syracuse, Illinois, Oregon, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia Tech, all in the last couple of weeks.

He plans to take a couple of official visits in December, as well as January. Of course, he’s hoping that one of them will be to Clemson.

“They’ve just been saying how they want to see me and we’ll go from there,” Moten said.

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