****Top-Tier 2019 Targets for Clemson
The Clemson 2018 class came to a climactic
and dramatic conclusion last week with the Signing Day commitments of Justyn
Ross and Mario Goodrich, adding to an already stellar and best-ever recruiting
class for the Tigers. Now it's all eyes on to the 2019 class and its very
talent-rich pool of Clemson prospects.
2019 DL Zacch PIckens
You can start right here in state of
South Carolina and point to Zacch Pickens of nearby TL Hanna High School in
Anderson as a player that is coveted by every Power Five program in the region.
Our top player overall in SC has been recruited hard and is going to be one to
watch here in the upcoming months. Proximity to Clemson may be playing a
role in a negative sense if he has become desensitized to his numerous visits.
His ability in the past to visit the Clemson campus was as easy as a 20-minute
ride up Highway 76, and he has visited the Tigers on many occasions in the past
from camp to spring games, Junior Days and many home games.
In the past few months, it’s been
South Carolina that is pressing the hardest on the young man from Anderson, and
Georgia is also there constantly in his sightline. Both are selling him
playing time at defensive end, whereas the Tigers see him as a player that will
grow into an interior lineman, just like they did with the recruitment of
Albert Huggins a few years ago. Pickens has the same M.O.—a player the staff
will have to sell on the role they see him filling in their system.
Clemson had early momentum with
Pickens, then it was FSU who was the first to offer the state’s top player, ironically
offering at halftime of Clemson vs FSU game in Death Valley that Pickens
attended in 2015. Later it was Georgia that was rumored to be out front,
and now it's in-state South Carolina, who is playing family ties and their
depth chart to the young stud. Stay tuned as this one plays out, but if
you recall the recruitment of the nation’s #1 DE this past year—a fellow named
Xavier Thomas—well this one sounds an awful lot like that one did at this point
last year, so don't count the Tigers out. But South Carolina has played its
cards well here, so this one is gonna get real good down the stretch as these
two staffs try to make their respective pitches for the monster from
Anderson. Stay tuned!
2019 LB Owen Pappoe
Next man up on the Clemson 2019
"wish list" is Owen Pappoe from Grayson High School (Loganville, GA),
the #1 linebacker on many big boards across the horizon. Pappoe is no
stranger to Tiger Town, as he has been coming to camps and games with his
Grayson teammates now for going on his third year. The Clemson staffers
have always made Owen feel as though he was their guy and a priority, and Owen
has reciprocated on a a few occasions, hinting that Clemson was the team to
beat. Well, it has been the flavor of the week over the past 18 months
with Pappoe, favoring Clemson, FSU, Tennessee, or Georgia at one time or
another. Word has it that in-state UGA now holds the cards for the
athletic backer.
Owen will play this one out to the
very end, and we feel it is the aforementioned teams in it with him until he
decides in December or next February. Owen has been recruited about as
hard as any recruit we have seen in our years in the business. You may
recall Owen was the subject of a USA Today feature for receiving a scholarship offer
in the ninth grade. But stay tuned with this one too, as Brent Venables
and Mickey Conn have had their eyes on Owen for some time now.
2019 WR Frank Ladson, Jr.
Frank Ladson, Jr. out of Florida is a
big-bodied wide receiver who is blowing up with offers as of late. The Tigers,
fresh off a Junior Day visit, seem to have really made an impact on the
Sunshine State’s top wide out prospect in 2019. Jeff Scott has pin-pointed
Ladson, and the staff is letting him know he is WRU's next target, and they are
going to recruit him hard to join the fraternity of Clemson receivers that have
developed under Scott's tutelage and graduated on to the NFL.
WRU and its continuing conveyor belt
of ready-made wide receivers has NFL scouts now giving the seal of approval to
almost any former Tiger wide out on their draft boards. And that’s a big
selling point for young players like Frank Ladson. Combine the WRU brand
with the success and championships the Tigers have enjoyed over the past decade,
and you get another top-tier prospect showing genuine interest in migrating
north one day to potentially play his part in the legacy of "WRU.”
But this is recruiting, and Miami, FSU,
Florida along with Alabama and a host of others still have something to say
about Ladson and his landing spot in 2019. As of today, though, this young
man has his eye on the Tigers.
2019 ATH Quavarius Crouch
Quavarius Crouch is the top player in
the state of North Carolina for 2019 and has offers from everyone imaginable.
He has the Tigers in his top group, but that group is laden with SEC and ACC
suitors that are vying hard to land this versatile athlete who can play either
side of the ball. Crouch is being recruited as both a running back and defensive
end/linebacker. He has the rare combination of size, speed, acceleration, ball
skills, and raw athleticism to pull off any of them. If you ask me, I
think his highest upside is on the defensive side of the ball because he has
the lateral movement to chase down ball carriers and wide receivers in the
spread offenses that we see now 80 percent of the time on any given
Saturday. His rare blend of all these rare qualities along with
exceptional strength has Quavarius at the very top of many recruiting boards,
regardless of position.
A very quiet and close-to-the-vest recruitment has been typical of Crouch, who has interest in the local in-state schools UNC and NC State, along with Alabama, Ohio State, South Carolina and, of course, Clemson, to name very few.
Another top running back prospect
Clemson has been involved with for quite some time is Devyn Ford, the #1 rated
back in the nation by more than one recruiting service, and the Tigers have
been recruiting the Virginia native for going on two and a half years.
Ford has an offer list of almost
anyone in the Power Five, including the likes of in-state schools VT and
UVA, regional power Ohio State and Penn State, ACC and SEC schools like Auburn,
Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, NC State, UNC, Duke, Pitt and
many, many more. He can be particularly picky in his destination for his
college career.
The Tigers have been long and steady
in this recruitment and have had their teeth in the skin of Ford for a
while. The staff had picked him and pointed to him as a priority in the class
ever since losing last year’s #1 RB to UGA when Zamir White committed to the
Bulldogs last summer.
****New Offer
Clemson reached up the eastern
seaboard and into the Keystone State of Pennsylvania to offer 2019 athlete Keith
Maguire, Jr., who is planning to attend the Tigers’ next Junior Day function in
March. The staff moved in quickly here. With an impending visit in
the works, look for the staff to sit with Keith and discuss a role for him on
the 2019 roster. We think the staff is looking at him as a possible linebacker
take in this class.
2019 ATH Keith Maguire, Jr.
Maguire is blowing up right now and can cite offers from Ohio State, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Northwestern, Boston College, Connecticut, Maryland., Duke and Virginia.
****This Week's Tweets
Happy Valentine's Day from
Clemson Football!
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pic.twitter.com/0kiHkeSgSi
(thanks to the @Timberwolves
for making Coach Swinney's lifelong dream of appearing on the Kiss Cam
with Kathleen happen!
https://t.co/5K9iNQefpB
God Got Me ...
????????
Mat drills started
today...
????????
pic.twitter.com/J08jQLxnv0
In love with the grind.
Blessed to receive and invite to the
UNDER ARMOUR ALL AMERICA CAMP
????????
Thanks for the opportunity pic.twitter.com/3j7WGpmO8X
Blessed to receive an invite to The
Nike opening @HoughFB
_ @SC_DBGROUP
@langstonwertzjr
@elitesportsmktg
@langstonwertzjr
@RivalsFriedman
pic.twitter.com/6kv9ImdS85
Two of our CBS Sports network all
Americans LB Brandon Smith 6’5“ 215 and Devyn Ford 5’11“ 190. Both players are
national recruits pic.twitter.com/BSSvnEaCGZ
Congrats Pops
????????
https://t.co/ukx4aQPmKF
Beyond Blessed to receive an offer from Clemson University! #GoTigers
href="https://t.co/dizJfWczaX">pic.twitter.com/dizJfWczaX
— Keith Maguire Jr. (@Keith_Mag) February 13, 2018href="https://t.co/dizJfWczaX">pic.twitter.com/dizJfWczaX
— Keith Maguire Jr. (@Keith_Mag) February 13, 2018
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