Tag: Mickey Conn

Peach State linebacker with connection to program will be at Clemson-Florida State

This Peach State linebacker will be among those in attendance for Clemson’s Saturday afternoon matchup against Florida State. The Clemson Insider recently caught up with North Gwinnett (Suwanee, Ga.) four-star linebacker Grant Godfrey will be …

This Peach State linebacker will be among those in attendance for Clemson’s Saturday afternoon matchup against Florida State.

The Clemson Insider recently caught up with North Gwinnett (Suwanee, Ga.) four-star linebacker Grant Godfrey will be heading up to Clemson this weekend. He already has a connection to the program and will have an opportunity to see a close friend on his visit.

“They’ve been sending me a lot of graphics and I talk to the coaches at least once a week,” Godfrey said.

Godfrey has been speaking with Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables and safeties coach Mickey Conn. They’ve been gauging their interest in Godfrey and are happy to have him on campus this weekend.

He’s excited to be in Death Valley for the big rivalry matchup this weekend and also getting a chance to see his close, personal friend and former teammate, Barrett Carter, in action.

“We’ve been good friends for like the past 10 years since I moved to Gwinnett,” he said. 

With that being said, what has Godfrey heard from Carter about his experience at Clemson?

“It’s an awesome place. He loves it there,” Godfrey explained. “He’s having the time of his life.”

Knowing Carter certainly helps, but Godfrey likes the way Clemson utilizes its linebackers. He believes it’s like a “perfect fit for him,” he said. 

Godfrey’s brother, R.J., is a big-time basketball recruit. Randall is a 6-7 small forward in the 2022 class and the two have discussed possibly going to the same school with one another. He’s been able to see the recruiting process through his older brother’s lens, even though the two don’t play the same sport.

“I mean it’s kind of crazy because it just motivates me so much to do what he’s doing,” Grant said, “try to be even better than him. 

Grant will play pickup games with R.J. but says that he’ll usually have to make a rule, where his older brother can’t just dunk on him whenever he pleases. 

“Besides that, I tear him up,” he said.

Grant feels like he has the versatility to be a do-it-all linebacker, kind of like Isaiah Simmons.

“My strong suit is that I’m great at reading plays and I always run to the ball,” Godfrey said. “I run down plays from the other side of the field and I’m very physical too. 

As far as his current recruitment is concerned, Godfrey is still planning his remaining visits. So far, he’s been on game day visits to the University of Georgia and Ole Miss.

 In addition to Clemson, he mentioned programs that have offered him like Tennessee, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Louisville and Vanderbilt as ones currently standing out in his recruitment.

Godfrey currently ranks as the No. 20 linebacker in the 2023 class, per the 247Sports Composite.

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Rising in-state athlete ‘more than excited’ for first recruiting trip to Clemson

A talented local athlete seeing his recruiting stock rise this season is Mazeo Bennett, a sophomore in the class of 2024 from Greenville High School. South Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia Tech have all extended offers to Bennett …

A talented local athlete seeing his recruiting stock rise this season is Mazeo Bennett, a sophomore in the class of 2024 from Greenville High School.

South Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia Tech have all extended offers to Bennett this month, while Clemson is among other schools showing interest in the speedy and explosive wide receiver/defensive back.

Bennett (6-0, 165) has made visits this season to check out all of the schools that have offered him, and this Saturday, he will make an unofficial visit to Clemson for the Florida State game. While he has been to a few games at Death Valley in the past, it will be his first recruiting trip to Tiger Town.

“I’m more than excited to be in Death Valley this weekend!” he said to The Clemson Insider.

Bennett’s brother, Zykiesis Cannon, was a defensive back at Louisville from 2014-17, so Bennett has seen his brother play at Clemson and already has a good feel for what the environment is like during games in The Valley.

“They are intense!” he said. “And that’s something I’ve always loved about them!”

Multiple members of Clemson’s staff have followed Bennett on Twitter over the past few weeks – including wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham, defensive coordinator Brent Venables and safeties coach Mickey Conn – and the Tigers invited Bennett to Saturday’s game through his coach.

“He informed me that they were really interested in me,” Bennett said.

Through seven games of his sophomore season, Bennett has 416 yards receiving and three touchdowns on 14 catches to go with a couple of interceptions.

“How I would describe myself as a player is a dog,” he said. “Somebody who could play both sides of the ball with no questions asked. As a wide receiver I would describe myself as a playmaker, someone who could turn nothing into something.”

Bennett is teammates at Greenville High with two class of 2022 Clemson commits: offensive lineman Collin Sadler and tight end Josh Sapp.

“They are like my best friends, especially Josh Sapp,” Bennett said. “Me and him talk every day. He has become my brother for life.”

Like Sapp and Sadler, Bennett hopes to one day have the chance to play for Clemson as well.

“An offer from Clemson would mean a lot,” he said. “Two of my teammates already being committed there, I kind of already know what to expect. Which is a school that will push you to be the best you but not only as a player but as a man.”

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Mutual interest between Tigers, one of nation’s top safeties

So far, Clemson has only offered a handful of prospects at the safety position in the 2023 class. One safety that the Tigers haven’t yet offered but have their eye on is Terrance Love of Langston Hughes High School (Fairburn, Ga.). Love, a consensus …

So far, Clemson has only offered a handful of prospects at the safety position in the 2023 class. One safety that the Tigers haven’t yet offered but have their eye on is Terrance Love of Langston Hughes High School (Fairburn, Ga.).

Love, a consensus four-star prospect according to the major recruiting services, is ranked as high as the No. 3 safety in the country and No. 71 overall prospect for the 2023 class by Rivals.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound junior continues to communicate with Clemson safeties coach Mickey Conn and has been hearing from cornerbacks coach Mike Reed lately as well.

The Tigers have expressed interest in Love, letting him know they like what they’ve seen from him on the field, and the interest is certainly mutual.

“I like Clemson a lot. Clemson’s one of my dream schools,” Love told The Clemson Insider recently. “They’re reaching out, but they’re saying they offer around junior or senior year but not always early. So, they were like ‘just stick around.’ They like what I’m doing.”

Love has camped at Clemson a couple of times in the past, including this past June, when he impressed the staff with the versatility he showed as a bigger safety that can not only play down in the box but has good coverage ability as well.

Love was slated to be on The Plains for Auburn’s game vs. Georgia on Saturday and has also made game visits to Georgia Tech and Florida State this season, in addition to being on hand for the neutral site season opener between Alabama and Miami in Atlanta.

Love is looking to visit Clemson before season’s end and might make it to Death Valley for the Florida State game on Oct. 30.

“I’m going to try to make it to one of the home games before the season’s over,” he said. “I’m going to try to catch Clemson’s next home game.”

Love, who has collected more than two dozen offers, dropped a top 12 in late June comprised of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, Notre Dame, Oregon, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.

Love intends to have his recruitment wrapped up and make his commitment before the start of his senior season in 2022, if not before the start of the new year.

“I want to do it before January 1st,” he said. “But I want to definitely do it before the season starts next year, during the summer. But I want to do it before January 1st.”

If Clemson opts to enter the race for Love with an offer before he makes his decision, the Tigers would catapult to the top of the list of contenders in his recruitment.

“It’ll mean a lot,” he said of a potential offer from the Tigers. “It’ll definitely be a top-three school for me.”

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Promising safety has multiple connections to Clemson

Avon (CT.) Avon Old Farms School 2024 safety KeShawn Adams was among some of the nation’s top prospects who traveled to the Dabo Swinney camp earlier this summer. The Clemson Insider recently checked back in on Adams, who continues to hear and …

Avon (CT.) Avon Old Farms School 2024 safety KeShawn Adams was among some of the nation’s top prospects who traveled to the Dabo Swinney camp earlier this summer.

The Clemson Insider recently checked back in on Adams, who continues to hear and receive interest from Clemson. In his conversation with TCI, Adams (6-0, 190) self-described himself as a “ballhawk and a student of the game.”

Clemson impressed Adams from the start, especially with Swinney ensuring that everything would be “position-specific.” That made Adams happy because it forced him to focus on improving his game, rather than the combine aspect.

“The safeties coach, Coach Mickey Conn, said he really liked my patience,” Adams added. “He liked that I was only Class of ‘24, so I’m really young with a lot of potential. I talked to (cornerbacks coach) Mike Reed a lot because while safety is my main position, sometimes I can play nickel, I can play corner.”

Adams had the chance to meet Swinney. He shook his hand and the two conversed for a bit.

He left with the impression that Clemson is definitely interested in him.

“Yeah, 100 percent. I know that it was definitely hard because, at that time, I didn’t have any offers,” he said. “It would have been hard for Clemson to be my first offer, but I know that God-willing, down the road, I’m only going into my sophomore season. I’ll be back there soon and an offer will definitely be something that they give me the chance at earning down the road.”

Conn told Adams that Clemson would be keeping in touch, knowing that this season of high school football is his first. His freshman season was canceled due to COVID. Adams believes his recruitment will start picking up once he’s able to show what he’s made of on the field this season.

“What I’m really, really big on and what I’m most excited for right now is being able to get film,” he said. “I already have a solid group of colleges that are showing interest in me, with Clemson being one of them…it’s just a testament to my hard work and all the hours I’ve put in. Once I get some film, they’ll definitely be reaching out to me.”

In addition to Clemson, Notre Dame is another school that’s standing out in Adams’ recruitment. Notre Dame recently reached out to Adams’s coaching staff and set an unofficial visit for the Fighting Irish’s Nov. 20 matchup against Georgia Tech. He’s also been in contact with both Rutgers and Penn State.

“Notre Dame and Clemson are top-2 right now,” he said. “Whenever I get information from them, whether it’s from my coaches or this right now with Clemson. I’m just always happy because these are some of my dream schools, some of my colleges that I really want to go to. I definitely think it’s going to be a battle.”

Right now, Adams is going to do his best to come down to a game in The Valley this season. Though, with Avon Old Farms playing its games on Saturdays, that makes it all the more difficult. That being said, he may have to wait until the end of his sophomore season to get back on campus.

What type of feedback did Adams get back from Conn and Reed during his time at the Swinney camp?

“Coach Conn said that he really liked my patience. He was surprised when I told him that I was a safety,” Adams said. “He was looking at me and thought that I was a corner. When I told him that I was a safety, he was definitely pretty happy about that.”

According to Adams, Conn is familiar with his high school because it’s the same program that produced Taisun Phommachanh, Clemson’s backup quarterback.

Adams knows Phommachanh’s brother, Tyler, more than he knows him, he said. Still, he was amazed that Taisun had already been medically cleared just a mere four months after rupturing his Achilles.

“I was really excited for him,” Adams said when asked about Phommachanh’s incredible recovery. “The other day I was watching (Clemson’s) spring game and he got them all the way down (the field). He made a really good pass. He got them all the way down to the 10. Then he got hurt…he’ll definitely get some playing time this year. He’s only a sophomore.”

Adams’ connection to the program extends beyond Phommachanh. He referred to Clemson redshirt defensive tackle Tré Williams as his “big brother.” Williams, a native of Windsor (CT.) took Adams on a campus tour and showed him around the facilities.

Adams met Williams through the Supreme Athlete Mentoring and Youth Coaching Program. 

What has he heard from the big defensive tackle about Clemson?

“He’s told me it’s the place to be,” Adams said. “Obviously, in his opinion and in my opinion, it’s the No. 1 university in the world, as far as football, just as far as everything. That’s somewhere that you definitely want to be. You get there, you are gonna have, everybody who’s a four-star, five-star. You’re gonna have players competing. That’s just making you better as a player. You want to get with the best of the best to prove that you belong there with them.”

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Talented Virginia DB felt the ‘Dabo Swinney effect’ at Clemson

The Clemson Insider checked back in with this Class of 2023 prospect, who has ties to the Tigers. What Braylon Johnson, who attends Highland Springs High School (Highland Springs, Va.) has been hearing from or about Clemson is usually translated …

The Clemson Insider checked back in with this Class of 2023 prospect, who has ties to the Tigers.

What Braylon Johnson, who attends Highland Springs High School (Highland Springs, Va.) has been hearing from or about Clemson is usually translated from Tigers’ cornerback Malcolm Greene, who is the older brother of one of his best friends, Miles.

Johnson has a relationship with Clemson cornerbacks coach Mike Reed, who was the lead recruiter for both Greene and K’Von Wallace, both of whom are also Highland Springs products. Additionally, Johnson’s father, who played college football at Virginia Tech, has a strong relationship with Clemson safeties coach Mickey Conn.

Johnson first met Conn after a Clemson-Louisville game in 2017. He was in eighth grade and Conn suggested that he came down to Clemson for the Dabo Swinney Camp. Johnson finally did this summer.

What’s Johnson’s overall impression of Clemson’s porgram thus far?

“Obviously they’re going to win. They’re winners,” Johnson said. “I like to win too. I hate losing. If I’m going to go to a school, I want to play and I want to win. Every year. Clemson is very consistent at making the College Football Playoff, which only four schools make it. They make it every time or at least since I’ve been paying attention. Just consistency….and then, the Dabo Swinney effect. When you’re there, even my mom recognized it and she loves Dabo. It’s like when you’re there, everyone just acts like they’re happy to be there.”

Just based on his summer visits, Johnson can tell that Clemson is just different from any other program in the country.

Now, he’s just hoping to hear from the Tigers again soon.

“Honestly, I think these next two games are going to be big for me,” he said. “The game has really slowed down for me also, so everything is really slow in terms of playing right now. These next two games, in terms of film, are going to be really good for me. I got a couple of teammates that I think are targets for Clemson, like Miles (Greene) and Takye (Heath). They also camped with me at Clemson.

“I think (Clemson) will definitely reach out over these next two games,” Johnson added.

Where is Johnson currently at with his recruitment?

“I feel like in my class, a lot of guys are rushing to commit. That’s what I feel like,” he said. “A lot of early commits. I don’t know if that’s how it’s always been because, to be honest, I paid attention to recruiting before I was getting recruited, but I wasn’t all into it. I wasn’t big into it. Now, I really follow it.”

In his own words, Johnson is “slow-playing the process,” he said. He feels like next year around this time that he’ll probably be committed. He would just like to get it over with before his senior campaign, so he can be locked in for his final season of high school football. 

Johnson has a great support system of his own. His father playing college football is certainly beneficial when considering his goal to play at the next level and beyond. 

In terms of recruiting, he allows Johnson to do his own thing and is supportive, but he has helped him get up until this point and helped shape the player his son has become.

“He’s been really big, in terms of knowing stuff,” Johnson said. “Him just teaching me things that helped him to be in a good position, also helps me because we have the same blood. We have a similar body type. We just think alike.”

While they think alike, Johnson’s father has never pushed him towards his alma mater. Sometimes there’s a certain expectation, especially for Johnson, to follow in your father’s footsteps. In this case, that would be at Virginia Tech. However, he’s taken a wide-open approach to his recruitment.

“Just a smart player,” Johnson said when asked to describe himself as a player. “I’m not super fast. I’m not super stronger. I’m only 165-pounds. But, I’m a lengthy corner, who has a very good football I.Q. A guy that’s really tall, who can move, who can run for his size…I’ve been around football forever. My father’s been around football forever.”

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Peach State standout athlete talks experience at Clemson-Georgia game

Among the prospects on hand for last Saturday’s game between Clemson and Georgia was one of the nation’s best athletes in the 2024 class, who hails from the Peach State. Grayson High School’s Joseph Stone, Jr. is being recruited by both programs. …

Among the prospects on hand for last Saturday’s game between Clemson and Georgia was one of the nation’s best athletes in the 2024 class, who hails from the Peach State.

Grayson High School’s Joseph Stone, Jr. is being recruited by both programs. He’s an in-state target for the Bulldogs, but he also comes from the same high school that Clemson safeties coach Mickey Conn was the head coach at for 16 years.

Stone was at the Dabo Swinney camp earlier this summer and talked with The Clemson Insider about his experience, his close relationship with Conn and how Clemson is his “dream school.”

TCI caught back up with Stone following Week 1’s marquee matchup, which he was in attendance for in Charlotte. He had a great time and lauded the environment and effort from both schools.

“UGA came ready!! From the fans in the stands to the coaches and down to the players as well,” he said. It was a well-played game and an amazing environment. It felt as if the fans were ready to play and they had no doubt that they were going to take home a win. I really enjoyed my time.”

Still, Stone made sure to praise Clemson as well, a school where he has many relationships with players on the team, including Phil Mafah, Dacari Collins and Nate Wiggins.

“Clemson also came with it,” Stone added.  Fighting the whole game and not giving up. Loved watching my guys from Atlanta touch the field and be great as just freshmen. Definitely, something I’m looking forward to. Clemson is great and will be great for a long time and I believe Clemson is still a top-tier school.”

Stone’s praise for the Tigers didn’t stop there. He experienced the culture of the program first-hand this summer and made sure to touch on it again after seeing it as a spectator in the stands at Bank of America Stadium.

“Although Clemson is a very big school I feel as if it’s a place of opportunity and hard work for anyone who is willing to be ‘ALL IN.’ I feel like Clemson is a place where men actually become better men and you can see by the fight and personality of the players on the team.”

While Stone is only just a sophomore, it’s clear that he’s already caught the attention of several marquee programs around the country.

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Nation’s top safety: Clemson ‘cares for each player like they’re family’

The nation’s top safety in the 2023 class has come away with a significant impression of Clemson. Hoschton (Ga.) Mill Creek four-star Caleb Downs recently caught up with The Clemson Insider regarding the latest on his current recruitment and where …

The nation’s top safety in the 2023 class has come away with a significant impression of Clemson.

Hoschton (Ga.) Mill Creek four-star Caleb Downs recently caught up with The Clemson Insider regarding the latest on his current recruitment and where Clemson currently stands. 

Downs (6-0, 185) is ranked as the No. 1 safety in the country and the No. 8 overall prospect regardless of position in the Class of 2023, per 247Sports’ recruiting rankings.

“They care for each player like they’re family,” Downs told TCI. “Everything you do, they want you to excel. They want to be there to help you with your ups and downs. It’s just a family there.

Downs came down to Clemson at the end of the summer and he’ll be going to the Georgia game come Sept. 4, just to see how the feel is, he said.

What has Downs been hearing from Clemson’s staff as of late?

“All good things,” he added. Both sides. Both ways.”

Downs has carved out relationships with several members of the Tigers’ coaching staff, including defensive coordinator Brent Venables, safeties coach Mickey Conn, defensive analyst DeAndre McDaniel, cornerbacks coach Mike Reed and last, but certainly not least, Dabo Swinney.

Clemson has put the full-court press on his recruitment.

“It’s very good,” Downs said regarding his relationship with Clemson’s staff. “Coach Conn and Coach Venables, I talk to them a lot, especially in-person when I come down there. They’re very friendly. Good to know them. Good to met them. They’re both great men and there’s much to learn from each of them.”

Downs has spent some time on Clemson’s campus and has had an opportunity to take in everything that the program has to offer.

“It’s a beautiful campus,” he said. “It’s a beautiful place to be. The facilities are top-notch. Not many schools can compete with that. They have a really good family feel there. You just feel at home.”

What’s the overall message that Clemson’s trying to get across in his recruitment?

“How easy I would fit in their defense with how versatile I am,” Downs added. 

Downs is a self-described excellent athlete, who is very instinctual and can read plays very easily. He trusts in his film study and his athleticism. If he sees a play, he’ll go for it.

For Mill Creek, Downs plays more of a defensive back role and he’s also utilized as an offensive weapon. While his interchangeability will certainly pay dividends at the next level, according to Downs, Clemson is primarily looking for him to be a safety at the next level.

As far as his recruitment is concerned, Downs is taking a patient approach. Right now, he wants to focus on his junior season. He also made it a point to say that he doesn’t want to rush into a decision right now and wants to let his recruitment continue to play out.

Downs still has some time before he needs to sit down and make a decision, but he’s already outlined some factors that are going to be important to him.

“A place that can develop me to be the best player that I can be on and off the field,” he said. “Someone that can develop me in the classroom, especially so I can get my degree as fast as possible. Somewhere with networking.”

In addition to Clemson, Downs mentions Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame and USC as schools that have been standing out for him thus far.

The plan for him is to see an Alabama game, take a gameday visit for Notre Dame’s Oct. 30 matchup against UNC, go to Ohio State in September and, obviously, Georgia is the in-state school.

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Top Cali DB can see Swinney, Clemson ‘playing a big role’ in his recruitment

One top defensive back prospect firmly on Clemson’s future recruiting radar is Peyton Woodyard, who hails from a California high school powerhouse that has become connected to the Tigers. Woodyard, a talented and versatile 2024 recruit from St. John …

One top defensive back prospect firmly on Clemson’s future recruiting radar is Peyton Woodyard, who hails from a California high school powerhouse that has become connected to the Tigers.

Woodyard, a talented and versatile 2024 recruit from St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) – the same school that produced Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei and wide receiver Beaux Collins – traveled to Tiger Town this summer to tour the campus and facilities and compete at the Dabo Swinney Camp.

“Obviously the facilities are nice,” Woodyard said to The Clemson Insider recently, reflecting on the visit. “But definitely the coaching staff and how friendly and welcoming everyone was [stood out]. And Dabo Swinney, just the whole way he runs things over there, he runs a great team and it’s a great program you definitely want to be a part of when you’re at Clemson.”

While on campus, Woodyard spent plenty of time around the Tigers’ staff – primarily safeties coach Mickey Conn, cornerbacks coach Mike Reed and defensive coordinator Brent Venables – and impressed them with his camp performance.

The 6-foot-2, 188-pound rising sophomore is classified as a safety by 247Sports but prides himself on being a complete DB that can play all over the secondary from slot corner to free safety.

“They definitely like the way I play, how fast I am, my size and speed,” Woodyard said of the Tigers. “They were able to watch me line up at corner and inside at the slot position and guard the slot. They pretty much said if I wasn’t an incoming sophomore, I would have an offer there, and that’s why I’m really trying to show out this season and go head back up to Clemson.”

Obviously, playing at St. John Bosco, Woodyard is connected to the Uiagalelei family. He is friends with D.J.’s younger brother, 2023 five-star prospect Matayo Uiagalelei, and has had some opportunities to speak with D.J. in the past. Woodyard conversed with them when he visited Clemson in June.

As Woodyard alluded to, the Tigers refrain from offering sophomores, per Swinney’s policy. But he is certainly a candidate for an offer from Clemson in the future and envisions the Tigers being a major factor in his recruitment moving forward.

“It would mean a lot to me,” he said of a potential Clemson offer, “and I could see Clemson, Dabo playing a big role in my recruitment process. It’d just be a great offer to have.”

Woodyard hopes to return to Clemson next spring or summer. Along with Clemson, he visited Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Southern Cal and UCLA this summer.

Woodyard’s list of more than a dozen offers includes Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Southern Cal among others.

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!

Virginia DB with Clemson connections building good relationship with Tigers

A standout defensive back prospect from Virginia that visited Clemson last month could be on hand for the Tigers’ season-opening showdown vs. Georgia. Highland Springs High School (Highland Springs, Va.) 2023 cornerback/safety Braylon Johnson is …

A standout defensive back prospect from Virginia that visited Clemson last month could be on hand for the Tigers’ season-opening showdown vs. Georgia.

Highland Springs High School (Highland Springs, Va.) 2023 cornerback/safety Braylon Johnson is looking to possibly attend the game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Sept. 4.

“I might catch the opening game against Georgia because I have some family that lives in Charlotte,” he said.

Johnson (6-1, 160), the son of former Virginia Tech safety Loren Johnson, traveled to Clemson on June 10 to participate in the Dabo Swinney Camp and came away impressed by his experience on campus, calling it “beyond amazing.”

Johnson has a couple of connections to Clemson in that he attends the same high school, Highland Springs, that produced former Tiger safety K’Von Wallace and current Clemson cornerback Malcolm Greene. The three players have formed a good bond and Johnson said they are “like family, to be honest.”

Johnson has also built a solid rapport with Clemson cornerbacks coach Mike Reed, who also courted Greene and Wallace, while Johnson’s dad is close with Tigers safeties coach Mickey Conn.

“I have a good relationship with a couple of coaches on the staff,” Johnson said. “Obviously Coach Reed because he would ultimately be my position coach if they wanted me to play corner, and he also recruited K’Von and Malcolm. And Coach Conn is good friends with my father.”

“I love all the coaches and the family atmosphere they have down there,” he added.

A rising junior with over a dozen scholarship offers from schools such as Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Oklahoma, Penn State and Michigan State, Johnson hopes to catch Clemson’s attention with his play on the field this season and eventually earn an offer from the Tigers in the process.

“Just waiting on the season to come so I can show these guys that I can really play,” he said.

Johnson also went to Maryland, Georgia Tech, UNC, UVA, Penn State and Michigan State in June. He is scheduled to visit Coastal Carolina on July 26, Virginia on July 29 and Oklahoma on July 31.

Turner could be best safety Conn has seen at Clemson

Looking ahead to the 2021 season, Clemson’s safeties are shaping up to be one of the team’s most-experienced positions come kickoff this fall. Safeties coach and special teams coordinator Mickey Conn is excited to see what this veteran group can do …

Looking ahead to the 2021 season, Clemson’s safeties are shaping up to be one of the team’s most-experienced positions come kickoff this fall. Safeties coach and special teams coordinator Mickey Conn is excited to see what this veteran group can do on the field against some of the best offenses in the country.

Nolan Turner, a fifth year at the safety position has come in clutch for the Tigers when they needed it most and Conn has no doubt the veteran will be able to do that once again in his final season.

“Nolan was good when he got here,” Conn said. “He was a really good player but has worked and learned the defense and his footwork, he is just so instinctive as a player and his footwork is incomparable to really any other defensive back that we’ve got back there.”

“His footwork is incredible, just the way he keeps his feet underneath him and the way that he can not only play the run, but he can play the pass and he’s especially good in zone. We saw that against Ohio State a couple of years ago when he intercepted that pass to seal the deal. He’s just got great vision, great instincts, covers a lot of ground, quicker than most people think, but man, he’s really just bought in.”

With what Conn considers to be some of the best footwork within the Clemson program, Turner has become “that guy” for the Tigers’ backfield, but it has taken Turner a lot of opportunities and work to get here.

“As a young guy, he took advantage of every opportunity and every chance he got, so that when he got in the game, you’re like, ‘man, this guy is unbelievable,’” Conn said. Even his freshman year you watch him against Louisville make a huge tackle on their quarterback who is now making all kinds of plays in the NFL, but Nolan comes in and tackles him in the open field to keep him out of the endzone and you’re like, ‘Wow, there’s something to this kid.’”

Now with four seasons and experience at all safety positions under his belt, Turner has the opportunity to be one of the best safeties Clemson has ever seen, something head coach Dabo Swinney predicted last season.=

With Turner being compared to the likes of former Clemson safety greats like K’Von Wallace, Isaiah Simmons, and Tanner Muse, who all have since moved onto the NFL, Conn is confident that he will sit atop that list once his career at Clemson comes to a close.

“He can definitely be the best safety since I’ve been here, and he can do a lot of things,” Conn said. Now that’s not to take anything away from the ones I’ve had because they’ve done pretty good too. You’ve got some good ones that have moved on, but Nolan has been here longer than all of those guys too and he’s taken full advantage of this opportunity.”