It’s time for this week’s edition of The Insider Report.
We hope everyone had a great weekend.
5-star WR enjoys first Clemson visit, collects offer
The headliner among the juniors that Clemson hosted for the Miami game this past weekend was Ryan Wingo, a five-star prospect ranked among the nation’s top receivers and top players in the 2024 class regardless of position.
It was the first-ever visit to Clemson for the St. Louis (Mo.) University High standout, and also his first time being in the Palmetto State.
Wingo told The Clemson Insider he had “a lot of fun” on the visit between interacting with fans, being at Clemson with friends and collecting an offer from the Tigers while on campus. He was accompanied on the visit by his dad, a couple of teammates and his trainer, among others close with his family.
Dabo Swinney himself gave the scholarship offer to Wingo before the game, making the 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior just the third receiver in the 2024 class to pick up an offer from Swinney’s program.
While getting that offer was certainly one of the best parts of the visit for Wingo, he pointed to one particular interaction he had with fans as the highlight.
“I think the highlight was probably the fan interaction I got. It was like these dudes holding up, ‘We want Ryan Wingo,’ on their phone and stuff. So, that probably was the highlight,” he said.
“It was like a text in big letters, like ‘We want Ryan Wingo.’ It was pretty cool.”
Wingo will head to Missouri this weekend for its game vs. Arkansas. He has also attended games at a slew of other schools this season, including Ohio State, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan, LSU and Ole Miss.
Wingo, who lists close to 40 offers, said his recruitment is “pretty wide open” right now.
Now that he’s visited Clemson and gotten an offer from the Tigers, are they a team he can see being heavily in the mix for his commitment down the road?
“Yes sir, for sure,” he said.
Wingo is rated as a five-star prospect by Rivals and the 247Sports Composite. He is ranked as high as the No. 2 wide receiver and No. 6 overall prospect in the country for the 2024 class by Rivals, while the 247Sports Composite considers him the No. 3 receiver and No. 14 overall prospect in the class.
TCI will publish the full story from our interview with Wingo in the morning.
5-star Georgia OL has ‘great’ visit to Clemson
Wingo wasn’t the only five-star prospect that Clemson played host to Saturday.
Another five-star on hand for the game vs. Miami was Mason Short, an offensive lineman in the 2025 class from Evans (Ga.) High School.
The 6-foot-6, 285-pound sophomore, who already holds more than a dozen scholarship offers, told TCI he had a “great” visit.
“I would have to say the highlight would be the coaches inviting me to stand by Howard’s Rock as the team ran down the hill,” he said.
Short’s family accompanied him to Tiger Town and all thought the visit was great, too, he said.
According to Short – the nation’s No. 3 offensive tackle and No. 28 overall prospect in the country for his class, per the 247Sports Composite – Clemson coaches told him they like what they’ve seen from him and will continue to monitor him in the spring.
Short said it would be “an honor” to receive an offer from the Tigers in the future. His current offer list includes schools such as Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Ohio State, Penn State, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The latest on nation’s No. 1 LB, priority Clemson target
Keeping with the theme of five-star recruits, TCI has the latest on a priority Clemson target in the 2024 class – Jefferson (Ga.) five-star Sammy Brown, the nation’s top-ranked linebacker in his class.
Brown, who picked up Clemson’s first class of 2024 offer back in March, told us he’s been communicating pretty regularly with defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Wes Goodwin and also speaks with head coach Dabo Swinney every couple of weeks or so.
According to Brown, the Tigers are among the suitors recruiting him the hardest right now, along with Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Ohio State.
The 6-foot-2, 227-pound junior has made a couple of visits to Death Valley this season, most recently for the Oct. 1 NC State game after attending the Sept. 10 game vs. Furman, where both of his parents went to college.
Could Brown be back in The Valley this Saturday when the Tigers take on the Gamecocks?
“We’ve thought about making it to the South Carolina game (this) weekend,” he told TCI.
Brown has also been to Ohio State, Georgia and Tennessee this season.
Clemson Baseball reunion a huge hit
On Friday night, Erik Bakich and Clemson Baseball had a reunion that was a big hit. They hit the golf course during the day and had a nice dinner Friday night.
Over 300 former Tigers were in attendance, including a number of Hall of Famers. Brad Miller received his Clemson Hall of Fame jacket during the event.
Everyone in attendance could see how much the program has changed under Bakich. Jack Leggett was in attendance and has an extra pep in his step these days.
Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.
Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!
