Elite OL says Clemson prepares players for life after football

Tchio is shown here on the sidelines before a game last season

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Feb 16 08:01:03 GMT-04:00 2019

Paul Tchio committed to Clemson in late November and saw the Tigers defeat archrival South Carolina, win a fourth consecutive ACC Championship, beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl, and blow out Alabama to win the school’s second National Championship in the last three years.

In January, Tchio was on the Clemson campus for the elite junior day, the first chance he’s had to spend time with the other commits in the 2020 class, and some prospects he would love to see join the fold.

“It was an amazing day,” Tchio told TigerNet. “It was my first time meeting most of the commits, and we had fun all day selling Clemson to Mitchell (Mayes) and Bryn (Tucker). This 2020 class is gonna be very special, and I’ve been recruiting pretty heavily since junior day. I’ve been talking to DJ Uiagalelei, Arik Gilbert, and Bryan Bresee the most.”

The 6-5, 320-pounder, and 4-star is rated as the No. 9 offensive guard overall nationally and the No. 21 player in the state of Georgia. He had offers from every major program in this part of the country but chose Clemson over Georgia and Alabama for a reason.

“Clemson is just a very special place,” he said. “I love the atmosphere Coach (Dabo) Swinney has built at Clemson, and I’ve developed some strong relationships with the coaches. But most important, Clemson will put me in the best situation for life after football.”

Tchio has built strong ties with offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell and area recruiter Mickey Conn.

“They really just check in on my family and me to see how we are doing,” Tchio said. “We don’t really have to talk about football. Coach Caldwell and I, we’ve built a really strong relationship, and he’s a really fun guy. There is never a dull moment around him.”

Tchio said one of the highlights of Junior Day was Swinney’s speech about what it takes to be a Tiger.

“Best is the standard,” he said. “I love the culture he’s built and how he’s a player-first coach and cares about his players.”