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Phil Kornblut
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney broke with tradition over the weekend by staging his first June official visit weekend. Swinney had resisted scheduling official visits out of the traditional months of September thru January, but with players committing earlier, and taking summer official visits to competing schools, Swinney changed his view on his own recruiting calendar.
Swinney and his staff worked with 31 prospects who were in (scheduled and subject to change) for official visits over the weekend:
- Damari Brown CB
- Branden Strozier CB
- Keldric Faulk DE
- Aj Hoffler DE
- David Ojiegbe DE
- Hunter Osborne DE
- Colton Vasek DE
- Stephiylan Green DT
- Darron Reed DT
- Tj Searcy DT
- Peter Woods DT
- Jamal Anderson LB
- Lewis Carter LB
- Dee Crayton LB
- Tony Rojas LB
- Connor Lew OC
- Harris Sewell OG
- Markee Anderson OT
- Zechariah Owens OT
- Stanton Ramil OT
- Ian Reed OT
- Christopher Vizzina QB
- Jeremiah Cobb RB
- Rob Billings SAF
- Kylen Webb SAF
- Markus Dixon TE
- Olsen Henry TE
- Ronan Hanafin WR
- Nathaniel Joseph WR
- Noah Rogers WR
- Tyler Williams WR
Some other scheduled official visits over the weekend (subject to change) for Clemson and USC targets:
- Virginia Jalen Smith LB
- UCF Braeden Marshall C
- Ole Miss Noble Johnson WR
- Oklahoma Jalon Kilgore SAF
- Notre Dame Jaden Greathouse WR
- North Carolina Jaybron Harvey DE
- North Carolina Desmond Umeozulu DE
- Nebraska Dontavius Braswell RB
- Michigan State Victor Burley DT
- Michigan Jordan Matthews CB
- Illinois Jamarrion Harkless DT
- Georgia Justice Haynes RB
- Florida Kelby Collins DE
- Florida Jordan Hall LB
- Florida Pup Howard LB
- Florida Treyaun Webb RB
- Auburn Jamaal Jarrett DT
- Alabama Dylan Lonergan QB
DT Connor Knight (6-3 275) of Trussville, AL made an unofficial visit to USC Saturday coming in with a teammate who was camping with the Gamecocks, and that made for days of visits for him with the Gamecocks since April. He was in for a three day stay in April leading up to the spring game. Knight previously announced the Gamecocks as part of his short list of 11. After the Saturday visit, he called them #1 on his list. “They are already one of my top schools, and the visit just helped them stay at the top,” Knight said. “Right now, I can definitely say South Carolina (is my favorite). What stood out most to me was just keeping on building the relationships with Coach (Jody) Wright. coach (Jimmy) Lindsey and coach (Shane) Beamer. Just keep on developing those relationships, and I got the opportunity to watch them coach as well at the camp. Coach Lindsey is a real patient coach watching him work with the campers.” Knight said he got the chance to talk with Beamer for a few minutes and the vibes coming from him continue to be positive. “Coach Beamer just told me that he loved my game,” Knight said. “He said I’m a great kid. It was real short because he had to get back to the camp, but we got a chance to chat for about 3-5 minutes.” Knight has not yet scheduled his official visits, but he plans to do so with USC, Maryland, South Florida, Florida A&M and Miami, and he said those five schools are the ones standing out the most with USC #1 on the list. He said his USC visit will likely come during the season, possibly the Georgia weekend. He also said he might take unofficial visits to Jackson State and Kentucky. Knight said he’s looking at making his decision in July or August, and it won’t matter to him if he hasn’t taken an official visit to USC by that time. “I don’t really have to take an official to South Carolina because I’ve seen it,” Knight said. “I’ve seen enough for me to not have to take an official right now. I could if I wanted to, but it’s like I’d rather take it during the season.” Knight suffered an MCL injury on the opening drive of the first game of last season, but he returned for the final three games. He finished the season with 25 tackles and three sacks.
WR Daidren Zipperer (6-1 175) of Lakeland, FL was recently offered by USC receivers coach Justin Stepp, and he took the next step with the Gamecocks by coming in for an unofficial visit Saturday. “It was good just talking to the coaches and stuff like that,” Zipperer said. “I saw the campus and the facilities. I saw the practice field, the weight room and the ice tub. I talked with Coach (Torrian) Gray, Coach Stepp and Coach (Shane) Beamer. The message was this is the SEC and it’s the best conference you can play in. It’s the best of the best. That was really the message, you can’t get better than the SEC.” Zipperer added that the visit really helped the Gamecocks’ chances with him moving forward in recruiting. “They really jumped up big,” he said. “I’m thinking about mid-July dropping a top five, a top six. They’ll be in it. We’re trying to set up an official visit for the fall so I can come to a game.” Zipperer left USC and drove up to Chapel Hill for a Sunday visit with North Carolina. He has set official visits with UCF June 10th and Pittsburgh June 17th. Some of his other offers are Coastal Carolina, BYU, Kentucky, Charlotte, South Florida, UCF and Middle Tennessee.
Four schools remain in contention for 2023 QB Dylan Lonergan of Snellville, GA, and three of them will get official visits from him and his family before he makes his decision later this summer. Lonergan visited Alabama over the weekend and has USC this weekend and Stanford June 24th. Ohio State also remains in the hunt. Alabama already has a 2023 quarterback committed in Eli Holstein, but Lonergan’s father said Wednesday night that will have no effect on how his son views the Crimson Tide. “Doesn’t impact us at all,” Dan Lonergan said. “They were up front all along that they were going to take two quarterbacks. The quarterback room is light at the end of the day with (Bryce) Young being in his last year and basically a freshman and the other guys. It’s to be expected, whether it’s competing with a guy in the same class, a class ahead or a class behind, you’re always going to have to compete.” The Lonergans have made multiple visits to USC, and Dylan has been the top quarterback recruiting target in the class for Shane Beamer and Marcus Satterfield. Dan Lonergan said nothing has changed over the weeks and months of recruiting of his son by the Gamecocks. “Coach Beamer, Coach Satterfield have been in continuous contact with Dylan, and they just have a real good relationship,” Lonergan said. “Looking forward to getting out there again for sure. We’ve been there a bunch of times, last was the spring game. We got to see baseball as well. We’ve been there enough to have a real good sense of the school and the program. We’ve got a real good sense of South Carolina and the platform it provides for Dylan for sure.” Stanford will get the final crack at Lonergan via an official visit. Ohio State has been pressing for the family to come back to Columbus, but Dan Lonergan said they just could not work a trip into their June schedule. “Just kind of ran out of dates in the month because we’ll be out of town almost three weeks in a row with officials and baseball tournaments,” Lonergan said. “We just can’t get it in, but we’ve been out there a couple of times over the last several months, most recently in January, so we’ve got a good feel for the program for sure.” After the official visits are completed at the end of June, Dylan Lonergan will be tasked with making the final decision, something that should be done in July. “Dylan’s plan right now is to make a decision sometime in early to mid-July,” his dad said. “That’s how it stands now unless he changes his mind. That’s kind of the expectation. Certainly, before the footballs season starts, just kind of putting it behind him and being able to focus on the upcoming season.” Many national recruiting analysts are pegging Lonergan for USC. That might turn out to be the case, but Dan Lonergan said his son’s mind is far from made up as he goes into his official visits. “I think he’s open,” Lonergan said. “He’s got a real good flavor for each program. I think he’s been very thoughtful and will continue to be. Each school offers something a little bit different to him. It’s just kind of down to the short strokes, but he continues to be open at this point.” Lonergan also is a standout baseball player, and his plan is to play both sports in college. USC baseball coach Mark Kingston has been active in helping the Gamecocks recruit Lonergan.
2024 QB Dante Reno (6-1 215) of Fiskdale, MA is the sone of the Yale head football coach and he attends the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, CT. He’s emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in his class. He’s a top target for USC and potentially one for Clemson, though the Tigers have offered two other 2024 quarterbacks in DJ Lagway and Jadyn Davis. Reno will see both the Gamecocks and Tigers next week. First, he will take an unofficial visit to Florida on June 6th. He will do the same at USC on June 8th. Then he’ll head to Clemson June 11th for a camp so that he can throw in front of Dabo Swinney and Brandon Streeter. He will then take unofficial visits to Kentucky, Georgia and NC State. There’s been a lot of Gamecock talk swirling around Reno in the recruiting world. He has visited USC a couple of times before and they are strongly in the mix, but as he enters this phase of the process, Reno still wants to consider all contenders. “I’m pretty open minded right now,” Reno said. “I’ll go through these visits and talk with my family in late June or early July, and we’ll see how everything goes from there.” USC head coach Shane Beamer and quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield have been doing the heavy lifting for the program in recruiting Reno. The two have done a good job relationship building with him and his family. “Coach Beamer, he’s a really good guy and there’s a lot of hype around the program right now,” Reno said. “Coach Satterfield, he’s also a good dude. They’ve recruited me really well. They’ve done their homework, and I’ve done my homework on them. There’s a kind of mutual respect that I have for them, and they have for me. Ever since I’ve been down there, they’ve treated me and my family awesome, along with the players too. It’s been really incredible for me to see, and I can’t wait to get back down there again.” Last season Reno passed for 2507 yards and 27 touchdowns while completing 66% of his passes. He likes what Satterfield runs at USC and sees the offense as a good fit. “They run the pro-style offense, and Coach Satterfield has a very good background with the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, so their offense is probably going to be tailored to that,” Reno said. “Obviously, with Spencer Rattler being there this year, it’s going to be pretty special to see what he does on offense with the weapons they are bringing in. He wants a quarterback who can win and distribute the ball to the playmakers.” Clemson’s Streeter has also had a long-running interest in Reno and though he’s not been offered yet by the Tigers, that hasn’t diminished his interest in their program. “I went down there last summer and threw for them, and I did the unofficial again in the spring,” Reno said. “I’ve talked to Coach Streeter for over a year and a half now. He’s a great dude. Coach Swinney is a legendary head coach. Obviously, they’ve got something rolling over there. I’m also real close to Cade Klubnik, one of their quarterbacks.” Reno also has offers from Arizona, Houston, Georgia Tech, Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, NC State, Ole Miss, Virginia, Syracuse, UCF, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Iowa State, West Virginia, Kentucky, Purdue and Cincinnati.
Lacrosse’s loss is college football’s gain. Jackson Carver (6-6 215) of Culiver, IN cut his teeth playing lacrosse. But after taking up football in 2021, he was hooked on that gridiron action, and that is where his college athletic future will play out. USC and Clemson are both aware of him. The Gamecocks just offered, and the Tigers are giving it consideration. USC recruiter Pete Lembo laid the groundwork for the Gamecock offer before turning things over to new tight ends coach Jody Wright. “I’ve been in contact with him (Lembo) for quite a while. I’d say back in February, maybe even January,” Carver said. “He was saying ‘be patient with us while we go through the process of hiring a new tight ends coach.’ He’s been continuing to send me stuff about the program. Yesterday (Wednesday) was the first time I had heard from the tight ends coach, and it came with great news, so I can’t complain.” Wright is trying to pick up the pace with Carver because he plans to make a commitment decision in early July. In his opening conversation, Wright laid out for Carver what he liked about him and how he could fit into their offense as a receiving tight end. Last season he had about 15 catches for 300 yards. “He just said I have a very impressive back story and a super high ceiling with my athleticism and how new I am to the game essentially,” Carver said. “That’s kind of the main thing for them, just how I’m so raw and they have the coaching and the development at South Carolina to get me to the next level. Coaches like my athleticism and length. They can put me out wide and stretch the field. With some development and putting on some weight, I have the frame to be able to block bigger guys on the line. So, they have plans to use me all over the field.” What would really help the Gamecocks’ chances with Carver would be to get him on campus for a visit. He’s never been, but he’s giving it a lot of thought as he lines up his June plans. “I am going to try to make it work to get to South Carolina to check things out,” Carver said. “We’re going to try to work on that in the next couple of days. I am interested in this opportunity and to see what South Carolina has to offer. I have my official set with Miami and Iowa, and I’m in the process of scheduling one with LSU.” Carver will visit Miami June 10th and Iowa June 24th. The LSU visit date has not been set. And then there’s Clemson out there for Carver as well. He’s had many conversations with tight end coach Kyle Richardson, and he’d also like to get there for a visit as well. That might lead to an offer from the Tigers. “They want to get me to come to campus and I’m trying to work on that as well,” Carver said. “I don’t have an offer from them yet, but I think that would help, going on a visit. I’ve been talking to Coach Richardson a lot, multiple times a week, every other day. We’ve been in pretty constant communication.” Carver also has an interest in Auburn and could set up a visit there as well. Carver, by the way, could have come out this season but opted to do a post-graduate year. He will attend the Loomis Chaffee School in Connecticut where he will team up with 2024 major quarterback prospect Dante Reno, who also is a USC and Clemson target.
TE Markus Dixon (6-5 230) of Warminster, PA was recently offered by Clemson and was one of the prospects scheduled to visit over the weekend. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and tight ends coach Kyle Richardson have been working Dixon, and they’ve done a good enough job from afar to have the Tigers on his short list. “Nothing but just positivity, great feedback from Coach Swinney and Coach Rich,” Dixon said prior to his visit. “They really love me down there, and I haven’t even been down there yet.” The athletic tight end who can run the seam and make deep, down the field catches has been missing from the Clemson offense since the graduation of Jordan Leggett after the 2016 season. He caught 112 passes for 1598 yards and 18 touchdowns in his career. That’s the kind of firepower at the position Williams hopes to restore to the offense in the future, and Dixon fits that spot. “He loves the fact I’m an athletic tight end. I can split out and just kill the SAM linebackers and pretty much any safety or anybody that wants to cover me,” Dixon said. “He loves my frame and pretty much loves my game.” The weekend visit to Clemson was to be the first for Dixon. “I think the dynamic program itself just speaks for itself,” Dixon said. “I think the fact Clemson found interest in me is crazy itself. I find it really amazing that they are consistently in the Top 25.” Dixon also has an official visit set to Oregon for June 17th. He said Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Cincinnati and Miami are the others he’s strongly considering, and he will take all of his official visits in June. He wants to make his decision in late August or early September.
USC is one of the final five for major talent DT Kelby Collins (6-5 280) of Gardendale, AL. The Gamecocks will be mixing it up in recruiting battle for Collins over the next several months with Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Oklahoma. USC has everything the others have except the long-standing winning tradition. But Collins said the Gamecocks have other qualities that appeal to him. “The coaching staff and the fan base,” Collins said. “I think they have one of the best fan bases. Everybody basically came out for the spring game. The coaches do a good job of keeping in contact with me and making me feel like a priority.” Defensive line coach Jimmy Lindsey, along with head coach Shane Beamer, have been handling the conversations with Collins, and those have gone well. He talks with Beamer about once a week. Collins is in touch more with Lindsey who sees him as someone he can shift around on the line. “He likes how versatile I can be,” Collins said. “He likes that I can play the true edge, or I can go down to the three (technique) and maybe stop the run and stuff like that. But when we’re on the phone, we don’t really talk about football a lot. We just chop it up. Today (Monday) we were talking about what he was cooking on the grill.” Collins has made one trip to USC, a relatively quick visit on Easter Weekend on his way back from North Carolina. “We stayed there for a couple of hours because we were coming from North Carolina, so we just passed through,” Collins said. “Coach Lindsey showed me around the facility a little bit, and he took me to the stadium. We drove around campus for a little bit, but that was about it, so that’s why I’m looking forward to my official up there.” That official visit is set for June 10th, the first of two major recruiting weekends in June for the Gamecocks. As his recruiting plays out, not many observers will give USC much of a chance at pulling a dynamo from the grasp of national championship programs, but he said the Gamecocks are a serious consideration for him. “They are,” Collins said. “I think they have an equal shot just like everybody else on my top five list. That’s my final list I’m putting out. “I’ll be looking (on his visits) on how I get developed, my relationship with the coaches, and how far away they are from home. South Carolina is like five hours away, so that’s not a bad drive, so I feel like family can get up there.” Collins made his official visit to Florida over the weekend and will go to Georgia June 24th. He said he did grow up as an Alabama fan, and he understands the expectation in his native state is to stay put. “I get some pressure growing up in Alabama to go to Alabama,” Collins said. “A lot of people put that pressure on me, but I don’t feel pressure myself. Wherever I go, this is where I go, out of state or in-state. It’s really my decision, not nobody else’s.” Collins would like to make his decision before the season if he can, or whenever he finds where he’s most comfortable. Last season Collins had 109 tackles with 17 sacks.
USC signed a top-flight receiver out of Texas for the 2022 class in Landon Samson and in doing so may have gotten two for the price of one. Samson’s brother Gavin (6-2 190) was a standout receiver himself in high school. As a senior, Gavin Samson caught 25 passes for 516 yards and seven touchdowns in seven games. He was named first team all-district and second team all-state. If things go as planned, the two could be running routes together for the Gamecocks in 2023. Gavin graduated from Fort Worth Christian in 2018 and signed with Harding University in Searcy, AR. After his freshman season with the Bison, Samson left the school and joined the Armed Forces. He serves to this day but plans to leave the military in November, if all goes well, and enroll at USC in January according to his father. Gavin will join the Gamecocks as a walk-on and though his background is primarily as a receiver, he’s a talented enough athlete to play other positions and will leave it up to Shane Beamer and the staff to decide where he can most help the program.
SAF Jaden Kinard (6-3 180) of Sumter, son of Clemson legend and former NFL star safety Terry Kinard, will join the Tiger program this summer as a grayshirt. Kinard was a WR at Georgetown as a junior. He moved to Sumter for his senior season but tore his ACL and missed his entire senior season. The belief is his future is as a safety, and he will not play this season while rehabbing his knee and putting on weight and strength.
USC is on the short list with one of the state’s top defensive prospects in the 2023 class. DE Monteque Rhames (6-6 240) of Sumter Thursday night released his top eight list. USC is on the list along with Virginia Tech, NC State, Georgia, Michigan, UCF, Coastal Carolina and Florida State. Rhames visited USC Saturday unofficially. He also was offered by Alabama late last week.
Clemson is in the top five with DE Colton Vasek (6-6 230) of Austin, TX. He also has Oregon, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech on his short list.
Damari Brown of Ft. Lauderdale named a top six of Clemson, Miami, Florida State, Alabama, Oklahoma and LSU.
USC made the top seven with OT Oluwatosin Babalade. The others on his list are Maryland, Michigan, NC State, North Carolina, Ohio State and Rutgers. He has an official visit set with USC for June 10th.
Clemson is in the top 8 with SAF Derek Williams of New Iberia, LA. The others are Miami, LSU, Texas, Alabama, Michigan, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
CB Braeden Marshall of Lake Mary, FL has had Clemson on his short list, but he said Wednesday he’s not hearing as much from the Tigers as he was earlier in the year. He visited the Tigers in early March and said if he were to take an official visit there, it would have to be during the season. Marshall arrived at Arkansas Wednesday for a two-day unofficial visit. He will take an official visit to UCF this weekend followed by official visits to Wisconsin, Pitt and North Carolina the next three weekends. He said he’s also still looking at Nebraska and Tennessee.
SAF Dakarri Nelson of Selma, AL has an official visit set with Penn State for June 10th and said he might take an official visit to Auburn later in the month. His other officials will come during the season and he’s looking at Clemson and Tennessee for two of them. He said he still talks daily to Clemson safeties coach Mickey Conn. He also might go to camps at Alabama and Georgia just to run for the coaches. His most recent offers were Texas and Nebraska.
New USC offers:
WR London Humphreys (6-3 190) of Nashville
ATH Demitrius Bell (6-1 165) of Murfreesboro, TN
TE Jackson Carver (6-6 220) of Culver, IN
2024 WR Cai Bates (6-3 170) of Orlando
2024 TE Luca Puccinelli (6-7 225) of Richmond
2024 WR Josiah Brown of Hicksville, NY.
2024 WR/CB Chalil Cummings (5-11 186) of Starke, FL
2024 DT David Stone (6-4 255) of Oklahoma and IMG Academy
2025 ATH Jakeyse Graves (6-0 165) of Chesapeake, VA.
2026 DB Amari Jones of Dunnellon, FL
New Clemson offers:
CB Jordan Matthews (6-0 165) of Baton Rouge, LA.
WR Noble Johnson (6-3 205) of Rockwall, TX
2024 prospects:
2024 QB DJ Lagway of Willis, TX.
QB Jadyn Davis (6-0 185). of Charlotte.
OT Kam Pringle (6-7 315) of Woodland
LB Aaron Chiles (6-3 210) of Olney, MD
DE/TE Eddrick Houston (6-3 210) of Buford, GA
CB Tavoy Feagin (6-0 170) of Tampa
ATH KJ Bolden (6-1 185) of Buford, GA
SAF Noah Dixon of LaGrange, GA.
CB Jaylen Mbakwe (5-11 170) of Pinson, AL.
CB Omillio Agard (6-0 170) of Philadelphia
TE Jack Larsen (6-3 215) of Charlotte
SAF Mike Matthews (6-3 180) of Lilburn, GA.
OT Josiah Thompson (6-7 290) of Dillon.
DT Xzavier McLeod of Camden is on an unofficial visit to Texas A&M Saturday and was going to try to get to Texas as well. He has an official visit to LSU June 16th.
Powdersville SAF Thomas Williams will take an official visit to Virginia Tech June 10th. He has set July 4th for his commitment announcement. He also has offers from Penn State, West Virginia, ODU and UAB.
Dutch Fork RB Jarvis Green visited Appalachian State Thursday.
River Bluff WR Apollos Cook camped at Duke Saturday.
Lakewood CB Brandon Cisse was offered by NC State.
SAF Travon West of Wren was offered by Liberty.
2024 OT Kam Pringle of Woodland was at Auburn Friday and Alabama Saturday.
2025 RB Tre Leonard of Trinity Collegiate was offered by Arkansas. He will camp at USC this week.
