CLEMSON RECRUITING

Swinney Camp Insider: Session Six boasts plenty of star power
New Clemson commit Darnell Jefferies talks with Dabo Swinney.

Swinney Camp Insider: Session Six boasts plenty of star power


by - Senior Writer -

CLEMSON – What a difference a day makes.

Monday afternoon at 3 p.m., Clemson players and coaches were standing on the steps of The White House with President Donald Trump, celebrating a National Championship. At the same time Tuesday, all of the above were back at work at head coach Dabo Swinney’s high school camp while looking for prospects that can make another run at a title.

Several top prospects are on hand and will either work out in the evening session or tomorrow.

That includes 5-star offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer out of Atlanta (GA) Pace Academy. Clemson is in good shape with Salyer, who will work out in the evening session. Clemson, Georgia, Stanford and Ohio St. are his top schools right now.

*Clemson linebacker commits Jake Venables and Mike Jones, Jr., watched but didn’t work out. Both are scheduled to work out tomorrow.

*Working out with and drawing plenty of attention from running backs coach Tony Elliott was 4-star 2019 running back Devon Lawrence of Wake Forest (NC). Lawrence is the younger brother of standout defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, and he was the best of the bunch in Elliott’s A group.

Also in the group of running backs was Washington (DC) Woodson 4-star Mychale Salahuddin, who came down with a group of the athletes from the Maryland. Salahuddin has offers from USC, Maryland, Pittsburgh and Nebraska.

*I walked by tight ends coach Danny Pearman’s group, and immediately took notice of 2019 Lakeland (FL) tight end Keon Zipperer. He has offers from Auburn, Florida St., Florida, UNC, and Kentucky.

*Clemson’s newest commit, 4-start defensive tackle Darnell Jefferies, was on hand, watching the defensive linemen work out. He brought his mother and brother and sister along, and all four spent a good bit of time in conversation with Swinney. Jefferies committed to Clemson Monday afternoon via Facetime, while Swinney was at the U.S. Capitol as part of the National Championship commemoration.

Jefferies also spent time with current Clemson defensive line commits Josh Belk and Justin Mascoll.

*Fort Myers (FL) South Fort Myers defensive end Quashon Fuller is on campus and spent the afternoon touring the facilities. He’s been committed to FSU since February.

*It’s always good to see former Clemson running back Rodney Blunt, who played for the Tigers from 1989-93. Blunt is part of an organization called City Streets 2 Student Athletes, and his Jacksonville chapter brought 36 players to camp.

The organization was established to deter athletic students from drugs and crime in the city streets and develop productive student athletes. They are given lessons on etiquette, how to tie a tie, given interview pointers, etc., and of course the main reason is to keep the kids off of drugs.

Two of the prospects brought by Blunt include Oakleaf (FL) 2020 tackle Jalen Rivers 2020 defensive end teammate Chantz Williams (6-4, 210). Williams has offers from Florida State, Florida, Miami, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina.

Blunt said both prospects have high GPA’s in high school.

*It’s always fun to listen to wide receivers coach Jeff Scott teach the finer points of receiving. Today, he was talking about high-pointing the ball and coming down in the end zone.

He then gave an example of how to do it the right way.

“My favorite play of Sammy Watkins’ was the last touchdown catch he made,” Scott said. “It was against Ohio St., and we were down by nine and faced a big third down. He went up and made the catch, but he immediately tucked the ball. And it’s a good thing he did, because the defensive back was right there to try and knock it away. We got a touchdown and not a field goal, and we came back and won the game and four years later we won the championship. It’s the little details that lead to big things.”

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