Josh Sapp, a legacy recruit from Greenville (S.C.), announced his long-awaited Clemson offer via social media Thursday.
The Clemson Insider caught up with the Class of 2022 tight end’s head coach, Greg Porter, on Thursday afternoon.
“We’re absolutely flabbergasted. We’re so very excited for Josh,” Porter told The Clemson Insider. “He’s the blueprint for being patient in the recruitment process.”
Sapp let his coaching staff at Greenville know during lunch. They all celebrated and Sapp’s father, former Clemson and NFL linebacker Patrick Sapp, had an opportunity to be there for the celebrations and congratulations that occurred.
“When the opportunity came, Clemson kept their word to him as a young man and I think that was the winning factor for the kid,” he said. “They stuck to their word. Josh had other options and other offers, but his desire was to play for Clemson and he got his heart’s desire.”
As TCI has hinted at before, this was the offer that Sapp had been waiting on. Clemson offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Tony Elliott was very transparent with Sapp throughout the process and how he needed to remain patient, that his time would come.
It was Thursday.
“Clemson was very upfront with him,” Porter said. “I think the relationship that they built throughout the process made this an easy decision for him. He waited patiently…and we’re excited for Greenville High School to be able to have two football players in our program in the same season to verbally commit to Clemson.”
While it’s assumed that Sapp will verbally pledge to Clemson in the coming days, it’s not something that he’s announced just yet. He had been waiting for the offer from his father’s alma mater for quite some time now.
“Yes,” Porter said when asked by TCI if Sapp’s plan is to go to Clemson. “Even though his father graduated from there, Patrick Sapp. He did this himself. He put in the work during the offseason. He put the work in on the field, the classroom. He put himself in this position to have options and I’m very proud that he just trusted the process.”
Porter saw first-hand just how hard Sapp worked towards picking up this offer.
And it didn’t happen overnight.
It was players like Sapp who have helped lay the foundation for a Greenville team that’s gotten off to a 6-1 start to the season.
“When I came in 2019, I saw a guy, unsure whether he wanted to commit to football or not,” Porter said. “He played basketball as well. There was nothing to see as far as from football, what we were gonna get out of him.
“Once he made the commitment within himself that this was what he really wanted to do and be great at it, his work ethic really changed. His grades changed. One of the biggest things I’ve seen, during the summer he would come in during 6 a.m. and workout. Doing extremely hard workouts before we started our 8:30 a.m. workout…that’s the type of foundation of kids you build the program with. That’s why we’re where we are right now in this program because we have young men. who have that type of attitude and that work ethic.”
Porter knows the ins and outs of Sapp’s game, so how does he think he’ll be utilized by the Tigers and how he fits into Clemson’s offense?
“I think Josh presents a diversity of opportunities for Clemson,” he said. “Not only is he an excellent catcher, but he’s also a blocker. He’s athletic and Clemson uses their H-back tight ends in their offensive sets with Coach Elliott. I think it’s a good opportunity for him to mix in because that’s what we do with him here.
“It’s not going to be anything new to him as far as the terminology and everything will be new. But he has a sense of what’s to come and what’s expected in their offensive system.”
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