Tag: Khalil Bolden

Clemson giving newly offered DB something to think about

Ahead of its matchup against the Demon Deacons this weekend, Clemson offered a Wake Forest commit on Thursday. Yesterday morning, Khalil Barnes woke up to a missed call from Mickey Conn. Barnes had gone to bed early with his high school team having …

Ahead of its matchup against the Demon Deacons this weekend, Clemson offered a Wake Forest commit on Thursday.

Yesterday morning, Khalil Barnes woke up to a missed call from Mickey Conn. Barnes had gone to bed early with his high school team having an early morning walk-through.

Normally if Clemson’s co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach calls Barnes, he’d give him a heads up. Though, the circumstances were a little bit different in this case.

Conn reaching out to Barnes wasn’t out of the blue as both he and Wesley Goodwin had been in contact with the three-star defensive back out of Bogart (Ga.) North Oconee since the weekend.

Barnes would get in touch with Conn, who was in a meeting, but would later be summoned to his head coach’s office while he was in his second block econ class.

“I got on the phone with Coach Conn,” Barnes said, recalling his conversation in a phone interview with The Clemson Insider. “He asked me how I was, how my family is and he started explaining the traits and attributes that it takes to be a Clemson football player.”

That’s when Conn told Barnes that he matched all of those and would be extending him an official offer.

Barnes immediately called his parents. The second phone call went to Bubba Chandler, a former Clemson commit now in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, who had been teammates with Barnes at North Oconee.

“It was definitely crazy. I’m blessed,” he said when asked about his reaction to receiving an offer. “I was really happy where I was…I was just kind of in the moment. I was just proud and I knew how hard I had worked for it. It was cool to finally get that one. Coach Conn gave me something to think about, but I just want to focus on helping my team win a state championship.”

Conn brought up a conversation that he had with Barnes and his father back in June. 

In that conversation, which Barnes detailed in an interview with The Clemson Insider, Conn was honest and upfront about Clemson’s intentions. According to Barnes, Conn said that he would totally understand if they both hated him and Clemson, after having not pulled the trigger on an offer at the time.

​​”Just knowing that he remembered that conversation vividly and was able to be a man of his word and produce the offer, it shows what kind of man he is,” Barnes said of Conn.

Barnes, who has been committed to Dave Clawson’s program since June 28, said that Clemson has definitely given him something to think about. Right now, he’s set to be in Winston-Salem this weekend and wants to enjoy and experience the atmosphere as a Wake Forest commit Saturday.

“I’m gonna pray on it and God’s gonna lead me where I need to be,” Barnes said.

Barnes said that he’ll likely discuss taking a game-day visit to Clemson, but whether that’s something that actually takes place is not a question he can definitively answer right now.

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Elite, 5-star ATH Khalil Bolden to visit Michigan State later this month

Michigan State will be hosting arguably one of the top prospects in the 2024 class later this month

Michigan State will be hosting arguably one of the top prospects in the 2024 class later this month.

Khalil “KJ” Bolden of Buford, Ga. announced via Twitter on Monday that he intends on visiting Michigan State on July 31. Bolden is a five-star athlete and ranked as the No. 5 overall prospect in 247Sports’ composite rankings for the 2024 class.

Bolden has already received an offer from the Spartans, with Michigan State extending him a scholarship in February 2021. According to 247Sports, Bolden holds offers from 35 programs, which includes many of college football’s biggest programs: Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Clemson, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, LSU and Miami (FL).

At the moment, there is no indication of where the Spartans stand in Bolden’s recruitment but it’s a good sign to see he’ll be visiting the program later this month. It’ll be extremely tough for Michigan State to snag this big-time prospect away from the south but Mel Tucker and his staff apparently are making progress in that recruiting battle.

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5-star, nation’s top-ranked athlete gives the latest on recruitment, Clemson

There continues to be considerable mutual interest between Clemson and the nation’s top-ranked athlete in the 2024 class. Buford (Ga.) High School five-star Khalil “KJ” Bolden recently spoke with The Clemson Insider regarding the latest in his …

There continues to be considerable mutual interest between Clemson and the nation’s top-ranked athlete in the 2024 class.

Buford (Ga.) High School five-star Khalil “KJ” Bolden recently spoke with The Clemson Insider regarding the latest in his recruitment, where things stand with the Tigers and more.

“Everything’s been going straight,” he said of the recruiting process. “I’m picking up offers constantly, daily. Me and my family have been talking. We plan on narrowing things down junior year to like 12 or something like that, and then just keep going on from there.”

Clemson would be a big contender for Bolden, who has collected 30-plus offers, if the Tigers extend an offer to him once they start offering more prospects in the 2024 class this summer.

“Clemson’s always been one of my favorite schools since I was little,” he said. “But Clemson does things different when it comes to offering and things like that. But definitely if I get the offer, they’ll definitely be one of my top schools I’ll have to go see and check out and things like that.”

Bolden has been communicating with Clemson co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach Mickey Conn, as well as wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham.

“I hear from Coach Conn and Coach Grisham every once in a while. Those are my guys,” he said.

“They both say the same thing – like, we want you, we think you can play for this university and we’re not going to force you… like, it doesn’t matter what side you choose, either safety or receiver, and things of that nature.”

According to Bolden, Clemson is leaving it up to him as far as whether he would play safety or receiver should he choose to suit up for the Tigers in college.

The 6-foot-1, 182-pound rising junior expects to be doing plenty of pass-catching for Buford this season and then will go from there as he determines which position he’d prefer to play at the next level.

“This year, I’m going to be playing a lot of receiver because we had an Alabama commit (Isaiah Bond),” Bolden said. “He was playing mostly receiver, but this year I’ve got to step up and take over that spot. So, after this year, I plan on seeing what I want to do and how I want to go from there.”

Bolden is a five-star prospect according to the 247Sports Composite, while 247Sports ranks him as the nation’s No. 1 athlete and No. 3 overall prospect in the country for the 2024 class regardless of position.

“I’m a true definition of an athlete,” he said, describing himself as a player, “because I can hurt you both with speed or strength. I’m a ballhawk. It doesn’t matter, offense or defense, wherever the ball is, I’m trying to get it. I just try to play fast and just be a leader for the team and things like that. I’m really big on leadership.”

Bolden estimates he’s been to Clemson two or three times and explained what stood out to him from those visits to campus and the time he spent around Dabo Swinney and the Tigers’ staff.

“They’re all like family. They’re big on what they do,” he said. “They never change things up. Coach Dabo, he was nice. He gets after it. I like things like that, coaches like that, and it’s just more than football to them. They like to talk about life and other things beyond football, and schools like that, that’s really big to me.”

Bolden’s mother, who hails from the Palmetto State, is a big fan of Clemson as well.

“She loves it,” he said. “My mom is from South Carolina, so she told me she wouldn’t mind me going back to her hometown and things like that. So, that’s going to be one of her top schools.”

Bolden plans to visit Clemson with his mom again this summer if the Tigers pull the trigger on an offer.

“Hopefully I get the offer June 1 so I can come back down there,” he said. “My mom really wants to go back down there. So, hopefully I’ll get it June 1, and then we’ll go on another visit around June, July.”

Bolden said he is looking to visit schools such as Texas A&M, LSU, Florida State, USC and Penn State moving forward.

As it stands now, several schools are locks to make the cut for Bolden when he narrows things down and drops his top-schools list during his junior year.

“Georgia’s definitely going to make it, Alabama, Ole Miss, Ohio State,” he said. “Those are the schools right now, for now. … And if Clemson offers, I’ll definitely mention them.”

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5-star, Nation’s No. 1 athlete will be at Clemson this weekend

Clemson is set to play host to one of the nation’s best prospects in the class of 2024 this weekend. The Clemson Insider recently caught up with Buford (Ga.) High School five-star athlete K.J. Bolden, who will be on campus this Saturday, March 12, …

Clemson is set to play host to one of the nation’s best prospects in the class of 2024 this weekend.

The Clemson Insider recently caught up with Buford (Ga.) High School five-star athlete K.J. Bolden, who will be on campus this Saturday, March 12, and he confirmed that via Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.

Bolden (6-0, 180) currently ranks as the nation’s No. 1 athlete and No. 9 overall prospect in the 2024 class, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.

“Last time I spoke with Coach (Tyler) Grisham, the receivers coach,” Bolden told TCI this past week. “He was just telling me about the culture and how Clemson doesn’t just offer anyone and how we have to wait until June 1 of our junior year for when they offer juniors.”

How does Bolden feel about that?

“At first, I was frustrated, because Clemson has always been my favorite school that I wanted an offer from,” he said. “But when I hit my sophomore year, it made me realize that they just want to get to know you and I like coaches like that, who want to get to know you before they bring you onto your team. That’s really big to me.”

While Grisham has recently been in contact with Bolden, the Tigers have left it up to Bolden to determine what position he’ll play at the next level. He’s not leaning way or another, rather he’d like to see how the next two years of his high school career go.

What is Bolden hoping to get out of his visit?

“I just want to go down there and know those coaches more, build a better relationship than we already have,” he said.

In addition to Clemson, Bolden is planning to visit Ohio State, Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan State and Penn State.

He indicated that these upcoming visits are going to be very important for him. By the time his junior year rolls around, Bolden wants to narrow down his recruitment to 8-10 schools.

This weekend will certainly be a determining factor in whether Clemson is one of those schools going forward.

“I feel like the program’s performance is great still,” Bolden said. “Coach Dabo (Swinney) knows what he’s doing. He’s got a couple of good guys coming on this year. Hopefully, they have a good season this year.”

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Catch up with a flurry of February offers for Oklahoma Sooners Football

Oklahoma has sent out plenty of offers over the past several weeks. Here’s a look at who the Sooners have targeted.

With national signing day officially in the rearview, Oklahoma has turned its focus to the 2023 and 2024 classes for the most part.

OU has four commits in the 2023 recruiting class, good for No. 15 nationally and third in the Big 12 conference according to 247Sports. That list includes quarterback Jackson Arnold, wide receiver Ashton Cozart, offensive lineman Joshua Bates and athlete Erik McCarty.

Here’s a look at who the Sooners have sent out offers to over the past several weeks.

Michigan State Football offers 2024 ATH Khalil Bolden

Michigan State has sent out an offer to another top player in the class of 2024. This time it is wide receiver/safety Khalil “KJ” Bolden.

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Michigan State has sent out an offer to another top player in the class of 2024. A few weeks ago, they sent out an offer to stud wide receiver Nick Marsh. Now they have offered wide receiver and safety Khalil “KJ” Bolden.

Bolden, who is 6’2″ and 181 pounds, can play both sides of the ball and is considered a top prospect in the class of 2024. He attends Buford High School in his hometown of Buford, Georgia. He is currently unranked like all other 2024 prospects, but expect him to be a four or five-star athlete when more recruiting becomes available.

Bolden has already received an offer from another division 1 school in Florida State. Bolden has great speed from what I can see on the tapes, he also has good strength and ball carrier vision. He can easily find the open lane and take it to the house. Expect Michigan State to focus heavily on Bolden and try to have him commit to MSU.

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