Clemson was Marshall Pritchett’s first stop of the summer. The Class of 2025 athlete out of Georgia’s Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School didn’t know what to expect at the June 2 session of Dabo Swinney Camp. He had been playing quarterback at his …
Clemson was Marshall Pritchett’s first stop of the summer.
The Class of 2025 athlete out of Georgia’s Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School didn’t know what to expect at the June 2 session of Dabo Swinney Camp. He had been playing quarterback at his Charleston-based high school and hadn’t run routes in a few months.
“I had a little bit of interest from Clemson, but that kind of through Tony Elliott,” Pritchett told The Clemson Insider in a phone interview earlier this month. “I kind of went into (camp) like it was a clean slate like I had something to prove.”
Once Pritchett began doing individual drills with the tight ends, he said he was placed in the “B” group. It wasn’t long before he moved up the ladder again.
“We started running routes — stuff on air,” he said. “They really liked how I got out of my breaks and Coach (Kyle) Richardson moved me up to the top group. Because of the weather that day at Clemson, a lot of kids were cramping in our cramp. A lot of kids were going and getting water a lot; some of them couldn’t handle the heat. Being from Charleston, I could definitely handle the heat.
“When I got moved to the top group, there were probably 9-10 tight ends in the group, but when I first got moved up, there were only 2-3 still running routes. Like I said, many kids couldn’t handle the heat. So, I got a lot of really good reps.”
Pritchett didn’t know what to expect when he first moved up to the top group, but he started winning just about every rep. He started to have great confidence. Sometimes he’d win a rep, but he’d need a little bit of fixing from Richardson, who Pritchett said helped him a lot, as well as Tajh Boyd and some of Clemson’s current players.
“Having that feedback from the coaches helps a lot,” Pritchett said. “I would say out of all the camps I went to, how active the players were at the Clemson camp was amazing and they were super great. I was able to connect with them. It really made the competition that much better. I made one play on the sideline where I jumped up and caught it and I heard (sophomore running back) Will Shipley yell, ‘Let’s Go!’ Just to hear stuff like that from top-tier college football players is great. That type of energy is what made that camp so great, so special and I really enjoyed my time at Clemson.”
Pritchett gained a lot of confidence and a lot of coaching during his time at last month’s Swinney Camp. Richardson taught Pritchett a little cone drill that he’s implemented into his workout regimen and he’s been doing that drill just about every day for a month and a half.
“I took a lot of stuff from that camp and I used it throughout the summer to help me at other camps,” he said. “I’m gonna use some of that stuff this season. I’ll probably use some of that stuff for the rest of my life. Just little tweaks to my game that I didn’t know. Stuff I was messing up like getting out of breaks or throwing head fakes at the top of my routes. Just little things like that, that I could never diagnose myself that college coaches were able to see, which was really great.”
What type of feedback did Pritchett receive from Richardson?
“After the camp, he really liked what he saw,” Pritchett said of Clemson’s tight ends coach/passing game coordinator. “I went to shake his hand and he said, ‘You’re on my radar now. We can’t officially talk until Sept. 1 (that was before Pritchett announced he would be reclassifying to the class of 2025). You’re on our radar now because of how you played (June 2) and you should be proud of that.’”
Pritchett spoke highly of Richardson and felt like there was an immediate connection there. With that, he’s hopeful that they can continue to build a relationship, which may take some time now that Pritchett’s a rising sophomore again.
He imagines that Clemson will play a role in his recruitment going forward. Pritchett feels like the way he played at camp, it’s gonna be up to him and how he performs the next couple of seasons. He plans on coming back to participate in future Swinney Camps and will camp at Clemson as much as he can.
“I’d love to continue building my relationship and I feel like with how I played at the camp this summer, it’s gonna be up to me when I put the pads on,” he said. “I think I solidified a nice spot in my recruitment with Clemson. I have interest from them now, which is what any athlete goes into a camp, they want to be able to get in front of the eyes of college coaches and I feel like I did that at a really high level.
“It was very successful and I think that Clemson will definitely continue to recruit me, but it’s gonna be up to me and how I play when the pads come on. I’d love to come up for a game.”
Pritchett went into his decision to reclassify, which he said had to do with his older brother, Lawson, tearing his ACL. He and his family felt like Lawson deserved to play his senior season and not have to come in and redshirt during his first year of college. Instead, they looked at a school called Rabun Gap, which allowed them to reclassify, as Lawson will not sit out during his would-be junior season.
Marshall didn’t see any downside for himself. After playing his sophomore season in Charleston, he didn’t have a true position, which put him behind the eight-ball. Now that he’s come into this wide receiver/tight end role, he thinks that’ll be beneficial to him and his recruitment going forward. He’ll have a full year to bulk up, focus on getting in and out of breaks, getting better as a receiver and also have another year of playing with his brother, which is the real kicker.
— Photo for this article courtesy of @MarshallPritch on Twitter.
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