Following Peter Wood’s commitment to Clemson this past Friday, the Tigers now have 17 total commitments in their 2023 recruiting class.

Those who follow Clemson football recruiting closely may be asking what’s next now that it appears that Clemson’s commitment parade for the months of June and July is over. As the Tigers look likely to sign a class between 22-25 players, The Clemson Insider takes a look at what’s next for Clemson’s 2023 class.

Running Back

Clemson doled out its latest scholarship offer at the running back position to Christopher Johnson, Jr. last week. The Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Dillard product reported the offer via social media on Wednesday, July 6, following Jeremiah Cobb’s commitment to Auburn.

Johnson told us his plans of likely taking an official visit during a gameday upcoming this season, but all signs point to him committing to the University of Miami, and possibly sooner rather than later.

Wide Receiver

While Clemson currently has three open scholarships at the wide receiver position for the  2023 class, only one prospect — Rockwall (Texas) four-star Noble Johnson —is committed. Miami (Fla.) Edison High School’s Nathaniel Joseph walked back his Clemson pledge and later flipped his commitment to Miami, which now leaves the Tigers with two open spots

As it stands currently, Tyler Williams and Ronan Hanafin are the only remaining uncommitted wideouts that were at Clemson’s official visit weekend last month. Williams recently named a top five of Clemson, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Georgia and South Carolina, and announced that he will be committing on Sept. 27.

While Clemson once held some significant momentum with Williams, it appears that Georgia has long been the favorite to land the Lakeland (Fla.) product.

As for Hanafin, TCI was told by a source not to count out Clemson’s chances with the Massachusetts native, even though Notre Dame has been the long-standing favorite to land his commitment.

The Fighting Irish, who will be accepting as many as four wide receiver commitments during this cycle, have already landed commitments from four-stars Braylon James and Rico Flores. Westlake (Texas) four-star WR Jaden Greathouse, the former high school teammate of Clemson freshman Cade Klubnik, will be announcing his college destination this week with Notre Dame being the presumed favorite.

Now, that doesn’t discount Notre Dame’s chances of landing Hanafin, but there’s certainly been a concerted effort on Clemson’s end to get him to join the program’s 2023 recruiting class.

As far as other options are concerned, players like Ayden Greene and Davion Dozier camped at Clemson earlier this summer with hopes of earning a potential offer. While both received good feedback from Clemson wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham, neither left the Upstate with an offer in hand. Greene has since committed to Cincinnati, while Dozier will announce his college decision this coming Wednesday, July 13.

A name that we’re prepared to reveal as a wideout prospect to keep an eye on is Greensboro (N.C.) Dudley Academy’s RJ Baker. 

While Grisham just recently got in contact with Baker, he’s an up-and-coming receiver prospect, who was a bit of a late bloomer. There appears to be some mutual interest between Baker and Clemson at this time Since the spring, Baker has seen his recruitment take off and it’s only a matter of time before other local suitors like South Carolina, North Carolina and Duke join the mix. 

Offensive Line

Clemson’s offensive line recruiting in this cycle was once called into question, but those concerns have been put to bed after Thomas Austin was able to land the commitments of Vandegrift (Austin, TX.) four-star Ian Reed, Permian (Odessa, TX.) four-star and Eagle’s Landing Christian (Mcdonough, Ga.) four-star Zecahariah Owens.

While Clemson still has one open spot remaining — Kennesaw Mountain (Acworth, Ga.) three-star interior offensive lineman Connor Lew and Thompson High School (Alabaster, Ala.) four-star Stanton Ramil — seem unlikely to be the ones to fill it.

While we’ve long maintained that Oceanside Collegiate Academy’s Monroe Freeling was a priority for Clemson’s 2023 recruiting class, 

Defensive Line

After securing the commitment of Woods this past Friday, all of Clemson’s attention is now focused on Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.) four-star defensive end Hunter Osborne. 

Christopher Vizzina made that known right away and so have Clemson’s other commits.

Osborne has made some other visits since he was on campus for Clemson’s official visit weekend last month. While Osborne has since been crystal balled to Texas, we’ve been told that prediction may be a little premature at the moment.

In any event, Osborne is likely Clemson’s top target remaining and there’s an effort on all fronts to get to be Dabo Swinney’s latest pull from the Yellowhammer State.

Cornerback

Clemson still remains very involved in American Heritage (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) four-star Damari Brown’s recruitment, but whether the Tigers choose to add another cornerback to its list of commits remains to be seen.

Safety

Clemson’s main focus is currently on Milton High School (Alpharetta, Ga.) four-star safety Robert Billings, who would like to take most of, if not all of his official visits before making a decision.

“They’ve been telling me how they feel about me and how they want me to make the decision,” Billings told The Clemson Insider regarding Clemson’s message to him.  “Coach (Mickey) Conn, we’ve been on the phone a lot recently. He’s been telling me where I would play, like what position he wants me to learn. He wants me to play free safety and eventually learn strong safety.”

Billings will likely be back on campus for the program’s cookout on July 25.

If Billings were to commit elsewhere, Yulee (Fla.) three-star safety Landon Hale certainly presents himself as a viable and worthy candidate to be offered.
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