Clemson’s bye week has arrived with the recruiting board still very much in motion, and the Tigers are juggling two classes at once: wrapping up 2027 while trying to build real traction for 2028.
That work matters now more than ever. Dabo Swinney’s team is coming off a lopsided home loss to Miami and will return in Week 7 to host FCS Charleston Southern. With seven games left and only four of them in Death Valley, Clemson’s staff has plenty to manage on the field and even more to sort out on the trail.
The 2027 class is the more advanced of the two. According to 247Sports, Clemson has 24 hard commits and owns the No. 13 class nationally.
The group includes one five-star, wide receiver Jamarin Simmons, along with 10 four-stars and a collection of three-star prospects. Among the names already in the fold are Harrison, the son of Matt Luke, and Nicholas, the son of Georgia legend David Pollack.
Both play at North Oconee in Bogart, Ga., just outside Athens.
There has been one hit to that class, though. Linebacker RJ Hudson de-committed on Friday, creating at least a little turbulence for a class that otherwise looks mostly stable. Clemson could still add more pieces in the coming weeks, but for now the group appears largely intact.
The target list is a different story. 247Sports shows just one player in the “High Choice” category for Clemson, and that is commit Jarrell Chandler.
Another 30 prospects are marked “Interested,” including 23 current commits, which leaves six players already pledged elsewhere who remain on Clemson’s radar in some form. The short version: the Tigers are still chasing, but the odds of flipping one of those top names look slim.
For 2028, the board is much earlier and much thinner. Clemson’s only commitment so far is four-star quarterback Trace Hawkins, a 6-foot, 180-pound passer from Calhoun, Ga., who announced for the Tigers on July 30. Calhoun sits in the part of North Georgia where Clemson has long recruited, and the program has reason to value landing a quarterback from that area.
Hawkins is also listed as Clemson’s “High Choice” on the 2028 board, with 23 more prospects tagged as “Interested.” Beyond that, there are 16 recruits with a “Scout Look” label, but the most notable names among the warmer group are three players Clemson has as “Warm” rather than “Cool”: Snelling, Crumity and Bates.
Snelling is the No. 18 player from Florida, the No. 21 offensive tackle in the country, and the No. 161 prospect for 2028. Crumity ranks as the No. 45 cornerback nationally and the No. 55 player in Florida. Bates is the No. 73 defensive lineman in the 2028 class and the No. 25 overall prospect from Alabama.
Clemson would love to get even one of those three moving its way in the coming weeks or months.
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Clemson Can't Afford To Overlook This South Carolina Warning
South Carolinas win over No. 16 Florida served as a reminder that records can be deceiving in rivalry week. The Gamecocks moved to 3-3 with the 38-19 victory, and even with a difficult stretch still ahead, the performance underscored that Shane Beamers team has enough left in the tank to matter in a big game. For Clemson, that matters more than whatever the standings say right now.
Clemson is heading toward a meeting with a South Carolina team that just handled a ranked opponent and did it convincingly. The Tigers do not have the luxury of treating this as a routine late-season rivalry game, because the Gamecocks have already shown they can rise above their overall record when the stage gets bigger. [Read more 🡒]