Clemson Football Recruiting: 5-Star OT Target commits to Michigan State

A 5-star Clemson football offensive tackle target announced his commitment to Michigan State Monday evening. Here’s what it means for the Tigers.

5-star Offensive Tackle Devontae Dobbs announced his commitment to Michigan State Monday evening.

Dobbs was a priority target for Clemson football for quite some time, but the Tigers cooled off as of late. A couple of weeks ago, we pinned Dobbs as a top target for the 2019 class.

He is an extremely talented offensive tackle and will be able to join the Spartans and play right away next season.

Dobbs put Clemson in his top-eight, but it was always widely considered a long shot for him to go anywhere but Michigan State or Ohio State.

Dobbs is a native of Belleville, Michigan and I think he wanted to stay close to home and play for a prominent Big Ten program.

What does it mean for Clemson football?

This is certainly a loss for the Tigers, but it is not one that came unexpectedly. Clemson needs some really talented offensive linemen and Dobbs could have been the headliner of the class, but he wanted to stay closer to home.

You can’t fault a guy for wanting to stay a little closer to home and play for a team that he has grown up watching.

The Tigers still have several offensive line prospects on their board, including one commitment from 3-star Hunter Rayburn.

Recruiting offensive linemen is a big deal, but it’s not always the stars that mean everything. Tiger fans need to trust Dabo Swinney and his staff to find the guys they are looking for and develop them into solid offensive linemen.

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There are still plenty of options and opportunities for Clemson in the 2019 class and it will be interesting to see how recruitment plays out for some of these other guys.