An up-and-coming Tar Heel State signal-caller to keep an eye on this season was on campus at Clemson last month.
Millbrook (Raleigh, N.C.) 2024 quarterback Mason Fortune participated in the second day of the Dabo Swinney Camp on June 2.
“I kind of went around their campus a little bit,” Fortune told The Clemson Insider in a phone interview Monday. “It was actually very nice and I really liked it. The coaches were very friendly and I liked the players too and how they interacted with everyone. That was also very cool.”
When asked about the feedback he received from Clemson’s coaching staff, Fortune said he was told by Brandon Streeter to keep his below above his shoulder
“He was a great person,” Fortune said of Clemson’s offensive cooridnator/quarterbacks coach. “He was very friendly. He told me just to keep my elbow up like I just mentioned and he also said that I had a great season last year and just to keep it up this year, so I can get my name out there.”
During his sophomore campaign, Fortune passed for 3,100 yards, to go along with 40 touchdowns. Fortune said most of that had to do with 2022 four-star wide receiver Wesley Grimes and 2023 three-star WR Nathan Leacock. Grimes has since committed and enrolled at Wake Forest, while Leacock could find himself at a school like N.C. State or the University of Tennessee.
Both of the wideouts mentioned above previously received interest from Clemson as well, but possibly not extensively as Fortune.
And while Clemson has now handed out two offers to quarterbacks in Fortune’s class thus far, the Tigers will keep an eye on Fortune going forward, as he looks to put together another season that stacks up with what he was able to accomplish the year prior.
When the Tigers formally turned the page to offering prospects in the 2024 class on June 1 and started doling out offers to rising junior recruits, Willis (Texas) five-star DJ Lagway and Providence Day School (Charlotte, N.C.) five-star Jadyn Davis were some of the first to report offer(s) from the Tigers.
That doesn’t necessarily preclude them from offering Fortune in the future.
In addition to Clemson, Fortune camped at Notre Dame, Louisville, N.C. State, Duke and North Carolina this summer. He’ll also make his way to schools like Davidson and Elon in the coming days.
With that said, what stood out to Fortune about his Swinney Camp experience?
“I like how they didn’t have us run the 40s and all that and I like how they actually did a longer camp than most camps usually do,” Fortune explained. And, they actually went through stuff and talked about it.”
He feels like he was able to take away enough from his camp experience, he’ll be able to implement some of what he learned from Streeter into his game this upcoming season.
First and foremost, Fortune is a winner.
Getting a better feel for him and his game, he was more of a pocket passer last season, but during the offseason, he’s focused on improving his speed and he’s gotten a little bit faster. Fortune can make any throw that you need him to make. He’s not going to escape a clean pocket, but he now has the ability to scramble and pick up some yards if need be.
Sept. 1 will be big for a prospect like Fortune, who mentioned that he’s spoken to Clemson wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, Tyler Grisham, on multiple occasions now.
— Photo for this article courtesy of Mason Fortune.
Thank you @ClemsonFB for a great camp. @CoachStreeter and Coach Swinney thank you for helping me work on my game. @Coach_Grisham looking forward to catching up. @MHSCatsFootball pic.twitter.com/VKzRVbx2C2
— Mason Fortune 2024 (@m_fortune11) June 2, 2022
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