The Clemson Insider has the latest on Andrew Paul’s recruitment after speaking with those familiar with his recruitment.
Paul, who hails from the Parish Episcopal School (Dallas, TX.), is coming off an official visit this past weekend. We wanted to find out more about his official visit to Clemson and his current recruitment, so we spoke with Paul’s head coach at Parish, Daniel Novakov, and his trainer Brandon Williams.
“He loved it,” Novakov said of Paul’s official visit. “He loved the place. He loved the people. He loved Coach Swinney. I think he really liked the kids he visited. I think he liked everything about it.”
Novakov feels like Clemson has put its best foot forward with Paul and now it’s a matter of him making a decision.
Williams, who trains the three-star running back at FASST Performance & Fitness and has done so for the past three and a half years, also touched on Paul’s official visit.
“I think everything kind of gave him more insight into what he’s going to get himself into,” Williams said. “Dabo speaking to him was really cool and he’s already built a relationship with him. They’ve been straightforward with him all the way through, which is a pretty cool deal if I’m being honest. With Dabo coming down again on Tuesday, he was enjoying that time with him and he already got to see him this past weekend. He had a great time out there at Clemson.
“They really [made a good impression] on him. C.J. Spiller’s been staying in contact with him, communicating with him. That’s something you want, to build a relationship with a kid because this kid’s about relationships. He really is. He wants to go to a spot where he can go talk to the head coach and not go in there as a robot, not be timid.”
Before he makes his college decision, though, Paul has to decide where he’s going to take his final official visit, whether it’s to Oregon, Notre Dame or Georgia, who recently came in late with a scholarship offer on Sunday.
He also made an unofficial visit to TCU earlier this week.
“The hard part for him is this is brand new seeing these types of schools,” Novakov said. “He’s trying to make sure he’s making the right decision. I would say this is all brand new, so he’s trying to figure it all out. Most kids get 2-3 years to figure this out. He’s got to do it pretty rushed. So, it’s been tough on him. It just goes to show you that everyone’s done a really good job [recruiting him].”
Williams acknowledged that, obviously, he won’t be making Paul’s decision for him, but has done his best to advise him. He shared a tidbit from his conversations over the years with Paul, in which Williams previously asked the talented running back what his dream school would be.
According to Williams, Paul never hesitated. In his eyes, his dream school was anywhere that someone was willing to take a chance on him.
Now it’s about deciding which one of these programs he wants to take a chance on. It appears that Paul will be making his decision in less than a week on National Signing Day, which is on Wednesday, Feb. 2.
He jokingly compared Paul’s decision to a “Batman type deal.”
“He’s gonna make his move in the middle of the night and call it a day,” Williams quipped.
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