The Tigers have their first commitment of NSD Part 2! As we reported we were expecting, 4-star Kansas City CB Mario Goodrich chose Clemson over UGA and LSU.
From Gary:
Clemson added the 16th player to its 2018 class this morning, as Missouri stand-out Mario Goodrich III committed to the Tigers. Goodrich, who was at one time a Nebraska commit, picked Clemson over Georgia and LSU.
Goodrich and family were in Clemson two weeks ago, and on the visit the family was given the proverbial Orange Carpet treatment. Subsequently, the Clemson staff made the trip up to the "Show Me State" the following Monday to solidify things on the in-home visit, which included a stop at his school as well.
This is the second time in as many years the Tigers have reached into the mid-west and pulled a top-tier defensive back. You may recall the staff pulled off the same last-minute results with Isaiah Simmons, a player who hails from near by Kansas. Stay tuned to CUTigers.com for more throughout the day!
Mario Goodrich with his father, Brent Venables and CB Coach Mike Reed
As expected, the Tigers just missed on #1 CB Patrick Surtain, who signed with Bama. The Tigers also lost LB Dax Hollifield to the Hokies.
WR Drew Swinney, QB Ben Batson (son of Strength Coach Joey Batson) and safety Carson Donnelly sign as preferred walk-ons, making the class 18 strong. Justyn Ross will make his announcement at approximately 1:15 ET.
PAINT HIM ORANGE!!! JUSTYN ROSS CHOOSES CLEMSON OVER IN-STATE BAMA!!!
Dabo, Jeff Scott and Brandon Streeter do it again. The WRU brand is reinforced with the addition of 5-star WR Justyn Ross. The Tigers have now signed the #1 player in 6 different states: SC, NC, GA, FL, OH and AL. That is flat out incredible, especially when you consider recruiting juggernauts Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia and Florida State lost to the Tigers on the best players in their own back yards. More to come!
From Gary:
After a long recruitment that ended up with 2 official visits over the last month, Justyn Ross ended his recruitment and picked Clemson as his destination school for his college football career, spurning in-state powers Alabama and Auburn as finalists behind Clemson.
The Tigers held the lead throughout his recruitment and were able to hold off a big late surge from in-state juggernaut Alabama and its counterpart Auburn to win the 5-star's pledge.
Ross last visited Clemson way back in November for his Official Visit for The Citadel Game and has been getting a lot of local attention in the past month since the season's end. A player that is considered arguably the top wide receiver in this 2018 class is now a member of "WRU."
NOTE: Justyn Ross bumped Clemson ahead of Alabama for the #5 spot in the ESPN rankings, as I thought it might, adding insult to injury for the Tide! Bama, of course, still has bragging rights on the field, beating the Tigers out of another National Title.
Also, with just 16 scholarship players in this class, the Tigers have fewer than any other school in the top 37 and are still ranked #5! That tells you about the quality of this class. Pound-for-pound, it's arguably the #1 class in the nation. The Tigers landed 3 of the top 6 players in the ESPN 300 and the #1 player in 6 different states: SC, NC, GA, FL, AL and OH!
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