Following Clemson’s 27-21 double-overtime loss to N.C. State, this past Saturday, Brandon Streeter went back and watched some film, but he also had a phone call lined up.
Clemson’s quarterbacks coach scheduled a call with The Loomis Chaffee School 2024 QB Dante Reno.
Reno (6-2, 195) is from Fiskdale, MA., but is the starting quarterback for the premiere boarding school in Windsor, CT.
The two chopped it up over the phone on Sunday.
“We talked about the game a little bit,” Reno told The Clemson Insider. “He’s such a cool dude, there’s nothing really I can’t talk about with him. We talked about everything, how my family’s doing, when I’m gonna come up for a game — we were trying to figure out dates — I’m probably gonna come to the Wake Forest game (on Saturday, Nov. 20) when they play at home.”
Clemson and specifically Streeter’s interest in Reno means everything to him, he said.
“They want to see a whole season of game film,” Reno added. “So, I sent him the first three games we had. They take it really slow, so the more calls we get on with each other, the more we get to know each other. The better I’ll feel with them and the better they’ll feel with me.
“They’re big into relationships. They don’t take a quarterback, just to take a quarterback. They do their research and they don’t miss on many quarterbacks. That’s what I really like about them.”
Reno spent a lot of time with Streeter over the summer at the Dabo Swinney Camp, so has he been able to develop his relationship with Clemson’s QBs coach since then?
“I mean, it’s great,” Reno said regarding his relationship with Streeter. “When we talk, we don’t just talk about football, we talk about everything: life, school, family, his family, what they’re doing in the program, what they’re doing at Clemson. So, it’s not really just about football, trying to get me to be a recruit, it’s kind of just building that relationship to build a bond that you’re not gonna get at another school.”
Clemson’s recent success under center speaks for itself. The Tigers do their homework on the quarterback position on the recruiting trail, and they do it well. While D.J. Uiagalelei’s sophomore season has gotten off to an inconsistent start, he was still a five-star recruit, following in the footsteps of Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson.
Uiagalelei is set to be joined by another five-star quarterback in Westlake (Texas) 2022 QB Cade Klubnik.
Clemson’s history at the quarterback position clearly stands out to Reno.
“It’s awesome. It’s obviously really special to play for Coach Swinney, Coach Streeter, Coach Elliott there,” he said. “I mean you get the best of the best every single day. You play against the best defense in college football and you get coached by the best coaches in college football. Their slogan is ‘The Best is the Standard.’ You really get it when you go there.”
In addition to Clemson, Reno mentions Tennessee, Rutgers, LSU, Ole Miss, Boston College and the 11 schools that have offered him — Arizona, Georgia Tech, Houston, Iowa, Kentucky, UMass, Purdue, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and West Virginia — as the schools currently standing out in his recruitment.
Reno went to see Purdue play UConn on Saturday, Sept. 11. He hasn’t had a Friday night scheduled yet this season, but he’s hoping to get down to Clemson for the Wake Forest game, as mentioned previously.
What is Reno looking forward to about getting back to The Valley?
“It’s gonna be fun. Coach Streeter said that there’s nothing like a Clemson gameday,” Reno said. “He said I just gotta go experience it, soak it all in with the players and what the atmosphere’s like on the campus, how all the students interact with all the players after the game. I just gotta go experience it.”
Streeter was driving home when they were conversing Sunday night, so he’ll go into more of Reno’s film when he gets the chance and the two will get back on the phone together.
With that being said, what type of feedback did Reno get about his game from Streeter and what he wanted to see out of him this season?
“He wanted to see me be really accurate because I think that’s a big key in their offense,” Reno added. “Being accurate, throwing the ball downfield, not turning the ball over and ultimately winning a championship because that’s what you gotta do at the next level.”
Reno predicates his game on two things: his accuracy and his leadership.
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