A highly regarded defensive lineman in the 2023 class has been feeling the love from Clemson.
New Bern (N.C.) High School four-star defensive tackle Keith Sampson Jr. has camped at the Dabo Swinney Camp in the past and returned to campus for an unofficial visit in July.
The 6-foot-4, 285-pound junior has a strong bond with Clemson defensive ends coach Lemanski Hall, while Sampson is starting to establish a relationship with defensive tackles coach Todd Bates as well.
“I’ve been talking a lot with Coach Lemanski Hall and Coach Bates,” Sampson told The Clemson Insider recently. “It’s a good building relationship with Coach Hall. I’m just still getting to know Coach Bates, but I feel like I have a really good relationship with Coach Hall because that’s who I am in contact with the most from Clemson.”
“I feel like they’re really good people,” Sampson added. “Coach Hall, Coach Bates, they’re really good people for sure. When I went to visit, it was just nothing but love from them.”
Sampson, who lists more than 15 scholarship offers, feels Clemson is among the schools involved in his recruitment that are showing the most interest at this point in his recruiting process despite the fact the Tigers haven’t offered him just yet.
“Definitely Ohio State and Alabama, South Carolina. Even though I don’t have an offer from Clemson, they’re showing a lot of love,” he said. “Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Coastal Carolina. Those are like the main schools that are really showing a lot of love right now.”
What message are the Tigers conveying to Sampson at this stage of his recruitment?
“Just to keep working, don’t get satisfied,” he said. “Coach Hall says he really likes me because he sees that I’m still working. Even though I have all these offers and I get all this attention, he said I’m still able to work and I’m still able to be a leader and I’m trying to help guys in my community get offers as well.”
Academics are an important factor for Sampson as he goes through the process and evaluates different schools, and it was the academic side of things that stood out to him during his visit to Clemson this summer.
“I would definitely say like the academic portion of it, meeting with the academic advisors,” he said. “It was just a lot of things that I liked about it.”
Some of the other schools Sampson visited this summer include Ohio State, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia. He plans to get back to Clemson for a game this season and is already lining up several other game-day visits as well.
“I plan to go see South Carolina and Georgia play (in Athens), South Carolina versus Clemson (in Columbia), Ohio State versus Penn State (in Columbus),” he said. “I’m going to an Alabama game, I just don’t know what Bama game I want to go to yet.”
Sampson said he is looking to make a commitment decision sometime before his senior season in 2022 or at some point during his senior season. As he continues to build upon his relationships with Hall and Bates, he hopes to see the Tigers come into the mix with an offer moving forward.
“It would mean a lot,” he said. “I would just still be trying to get to know the coaches a little bit more. Just overall, just trying to make the right decision for me.”
Sampson is ranked as a top-250 national prospect in the 2023 class by 247Sports (No. 171), ESPN (No. 182) and Rivals (No. 250). Rivals considers him the No. 10 defensive tackle in the country for his class.
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