Clemson football: 5-star DT cuts Tigers from his list of top schools

Walter Nolen listens to instruction from a coach Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, during a practice at St. Benedict at Auburndale High School in Cordova.091520 Walternolen 04 Msg
Walter Nolen listens to instruction from a coach Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, during a practice at St. Benedict at Auburndale High School in Cordova.091520 Walternolen 04 Msg /
facebooktwitterreddit

A 5-star Clemson football target has cut his list of top schools to eight and the Tigers weren’t included.

5-star DT Walter Nolen– rated as the No. 1 DT in the nation according to 247 Sports’ Composite Player Rankings- released his group of top eight schools and confirmed what we had all known for a while: Clemson football isn’t a player in his recruitment.

Nolen had LSU, Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, Oregon, Ohio State and Oregon listed as his top-eight and said his recruitment is ‘still wide open.’

https://twitter.com/WalterNolen4/status/1377992230401626113?s=20

While Clemson football could always get back involved, the Tigers have been focused on other prospects for a while

Some Clemson football fans following recruiting may have hoped the Tigers were going to take a more assertive role in the recruitment of Nolen, but the truth is that the two parties weren’t actively involved for quite some time.

Clemson has been actively recruiting 5-star DT Travis Shaw– the No. 2 DT in the nation- for quite some time and he has been the major emphasis in this class for the Tigers, at least to this point.

In addition, Clemson began offering more defensive tackles this winter and spring, and the Tigers continue to track names like 5-star Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, 4-star Mykel Williams, 4-star Caden Curry and 4-star Alex VanSumeren at the position.

While the pecking order behind Shaw has not been defined in terms of how the Tigers’ big board falls, there is a name who might be intriguing to Clemson football fans: Unrated prospect Hero Kanu.

Kanu has one played a couple of games of football in the United States, but is becoming one of the fastest-risers in the cycle. He has offers from nearly 20 Power-5 schools with Clemson, LSU, Texas and Oregon serving as the headliners.

Next. Clemson could take multiple transfers in 2021. dark

In the end, the Tigers are going to base their defensive tackle recruiting on Shaw- which seems to be a battle with UNC and Georgia- and then make decisions on priorities from there.