It’s time for this week’s edition of The Insider Report.

We hope everyone had a great weekend.

Austin staying in touch with fast-rising Virginia OL

The Clemson Insider recently caught up with Tuscarora (Leesburg, Va.) three-star offensive lineman Fletcher Westphal, who has been keeping in touch with Clemson offensive line coach Thomas Austin since he visited in March.

“I’ve just been catching up since my last visit there to Clemson,” Westphal said. “Just been talking about how school is going, how spring ball’s going. I know he’s supposed to come for a spring practice sometime (this month). We’ve been talking a little bit.”

The fact that Clemson is stopping by his school during the evaluation period proves to Westphal that the Tigers are definitely interested in him going forward.

“I know Clemson — they pick who they want to offer — they don’t offer a lot of people,” he said. “I know that once you’re on their radar and that’s a good thing. I just hope that he can come out and see and build more of a relationship with him.”

Westphal’s recruitment has skyrocketed. He went from having seven offers to 16 in the span of just two months. He currently holds offers from schools like Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, North Carolina, Old Dominion, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

“It would definitely be an honor,” Westphal said regarding a potential offer from Clemson. “My family does a lot of research on these colleges…you search up academics, what they’re ranked at as a public school, private school, what their reputation is? Our family wasn’t super big into college football before, so we didn’t know a lot of this stuff. Clemson, I mean, they’re definitely up there.”

Westphal (6-8, 320) currently ranks as the No. 14 offensive tackle and the nation’s No. 247 prospect in the 2023 class, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Update on a priority OL target

One of Clemson’s top offensive lineman targets in the class of 2023 dropped his top-10 schools on May 2 via social media.

Vandegrift High School (Austin, Texas) four-star Ian Reed is down to Clemson, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.

Reed — a 6-foot-6, 305-pound junior — earned an offer from Clemson when he was on campus for the program’s Orange & White Spring Game on April 9.

“Clemson I just felt really comfortable with taking an (official visit),” Reed said. “I felt really comfortable when I first went there and seeing what Clemson has to offer when I first went there was pretty cool. I just want to go back there and (continue to) build a relationship with them.”

Reed set up an official visit for the weekend of June 3-5. He’s hoping that his next visit confirms how he feels about the school.

Since Clemson offered Reed, the Tigers have reinforced to him that he’s a priority in this recruiting class. He has since been in contact with Austin at least once a week, as they continue to build a strong relationship.

Sunshine State signal-caller drawing Clemson interest

Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville, Fla.) 2024 QB James Resar is drawing interest from Clemson. In fact, Clemson offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter stopped by his high school this past week.

“I went to camp last year and I hadn’t really heard anything else and then Coach Streeter watched me make a couple of throws at practice,” Resar said. “He said that I looked good.”

What does that mean to Resar?

“I feel like they’re showing interest,” he said. “I know they’d like to see a little bit more because they like to see their quarterbacks a lot before they offer interest.”

He currently has offers from Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, but a lot of schools currently showing interest in him want to see him throw before they pull the trigger on any offer.

Right now, Resar is unsure if he’ll be able to camp at Clemson again this summer. He, unfortunately, has finals when the Tigers host their camps on June 1 and 2. He’ll look into doing any of the camps from June 10-12, but nothing is set in stone.

Latest on the nation’s top-ranked athlete

TCI recently caught up with a five-star recruit ranked as the nation’s top athlete in the 2024 class and one of the top prospects in his class regardless of position.

Buford (Ga.) High School’s Khalil “KJ” Bolden spoke with TCI regarding the latest in his recruitment, where things stand with Clemson at this point in the process 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 just plan on narrowing things down junior year to like 12 or something like that, and then just keep going on from there.”

Bolden, the No. 1 athlete in the 2024 class per 247Sports, said he hears from Clemson co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach Mickey Conn and receivers coach Tyler Grisham every now and then and added “those are my guys.”

According to Bolden, Conn and Grisham are telling the 6-foot-1, 182-pound rising junior that the Tigers want him, they think he can play for them, and they’re leaving it open for him as to whether he would play safety or receiver if he chose to go to Clemson.

Bolden expects to play a lot of receiver during his junior season, as Buford had an Alabama commitment – Isaiah Bond – who played mostly receiver last season and Bolden believes he has to step up and take over that spot. But after this season, Bolden said, he plans on trying to figure out which position he would prefer to play at the next level.

Bolden estimates he’s been to Clemson two or three times and said, “Clemson’s always been one of my favorite schools since I was little,” and that the Tigers would definitely be one of his top schools if they join his list of 30-plus offers.

“They’re all like family. They’re big on what they do,” Bolden said of his interest in Clemson. “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 said his mother also “loves” Clemson. She’s from South Carolina, and Bolden said she really wants to get back to Clemson and that they’ll return this summer should he receive an offer.

Bolden said he’s looking to visit schools such as Texas A&M, LSU, Florida State, USC and Penn State moving forward. He named Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss and Ohio State as schools that as of now, he definitely anticipates making his top schools list when he releases it – along with Clemson, if it pulls the trigger on an offer.

In addition to being the No. 1 athlete in the 2024 class, Bolden ranks as the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2024 class regardless of position according to 247Sports. He is a five-star prospect per the 247Sports Composite.

Tar Heel State running back on Spiller’s radar, looks up to Shipley

This talented running back prospect in the 2024 class is receiving plenty of early interest from Clemson and running backs coach C.J. Spiller.

Charlotte Christian School (Charlotte, N.C.)’s Ryan Henley told TCI that Clemson is showing the most interest in him right now and that he caught Spiller’s eye at the Dabo Swinney Camp last summer.

“I went to a camp last year after freshman year, and Coach Spiller just really liked what he saw,” Henley said. “He ended up taking me and my mom on a tour of the whole facility, just the three of us after. He really liked what I was doing out there, like my versatility and my ability to make things happen in the receiving game. I think that’s really what made me stand out from some of the other running backs there, was just the versatility that I have and my ability to run the whole route tree.”

Henley (5-10, 184) also visited Clemson for the Florida State game last season, and Spiller wants him to camp at Clemson again this summer, so he plans to do so June 2.

Henley looks up to fellow Charlotte-area native and Clemson rising sophomore running back Will Shipley and has trained with Shipley several times.

“Going into freshman year, I trained with Will,” Henley said. “I’ve trained with him multiple times. He’s been a great role model for me to try and model my game. He’s offered a lot of knowledge that’s just rare to come by. He’s extremely successful at what he does, highly ranked guy. But I think he’s so humble with it all and he’s able to keep the main thing the main thing. I like seeing what he does, and the way that he treats my parents with respect. He’s such a high-level player, he doesn’t really have to do that, so my level of respect for him is extremely high.”

Henley hopes to stand out at the Swinney Camp again this summer and said he’d “love to be able to suit up for Clemson one day” and have the chance to follow in Shipley’s footsteps as a running back for the Tigers.

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