Hoffler pumped to work with NFL-caliber veterans at Clemson

AJ Hoffler was highly productive at the high school level.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Sun Jan 08 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - Edge rusher AJ Hoffler is a top recruit coming out of Atlanta, Georgia who was recruited by many of the other top colleges in the country, but ultimately, Hoffler chose to come to Clemson and he’s pumped to learn and grow under all of the veterans Clemson has returning.

“It’s good to see how they go about their day, what they do, their techniques, all that stuff,” Hoffler said. “So, it’ll just help me grow from the stuff that they teach me.”

The Tigers have had a good history at edge rusher and defense overall, sending 28 defensive players into the NFL in the past ten years. Further, edge rusher Myles Murphy and defensive lineman Bryan Bresee have both declared for the NFL Draft for 2023. Murphy is projected to be a top-10 pick while Bresee is commonly projected to get drafted in the first round.

More importantly for the summer enrolee, Clemson had a number of players come back. This includes Xavier Thomas and Justin Mascoll, who are returning for their final seasons. Both have the potential to be drafted in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Hoffler has plenty that he brings to the table for Clemson. In high school (Woodward Academy in College Park, Georgia), he finished his career with a total of 90 tackles; he averaged 3.2 tackles per game. He also caused a total of six fumbles and recorded his first career interception in his senior year. Hoffler has a knack for getting to the quarterback with a total of 15 sacks in high school; nine of them came in his junior year. Those nine sacks in a season is more than any Clemson defender recorded this season. Murphy and linebacker Jeremiah Trotter were the Tigers’ sack leaders this season with 6.5 sacks each.

The physicality that Hoffler possesses should help Clemson continue to grow its defense. Defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin just finished his first season in this position, and was also part of the recruiting process for Hoffler. Goodwin’s defense finished No. 13 in the country in rushing defense while they were No. 77 in passing yards allowed. These are certainly not the figures for a championship defense, which is what makes a recruit like Hoffler so important to the future and development of the program as a whole.

Of course, coming to Clemson is not just about football. Going into college, he was originally thinking about pursuing a business degree. However, after thinking about what side of the business he wanted to go into, he’s looking into studying Sports Communication.

“I think I want to do Sports Communication, be a sports announcer later on in my career,” Hoffler said. “So that’s something that I plan on studying along with business.”

Business and Sports Communication are some of the most common majors among Clemson football players, which should allow Hoffler to connect with his teammates in the academic setting in addition to on the football field.