Clemson football: Tigers are finalist for unoffered five-star QB

With successful college quarterbacks like Tajh Boyd, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, and now DJ Uiagalelei, it is easy to see why Clemson football has become QBU and attracts the elite high school from coast to coast.

Clemson football quarterback coach Brandon Streeter may be the best quarterback coach in the country. During his tenure with Clemson, he has signed or gotten commitments from Trevor Lawrence, DJ Uiagalelei, and Texas gunslinger Cade Klubnik.

They have also signed potential first-round MLB pick Bubba Chandler in the class of 2021, who went from unranked and no college football offers to a three-star in a matter of weeks in May 2020 after a Clemson offer.

Clemson football is the hunt for a five-star they haven’t offered yet.

If you are unfamiliar with the way that Clemson football has traditionally operated under head coach Dabo Swinney, all offers come from him directly and do not come until that prospect has paid their own way to Clemson at least once in order to show that they are truly interested.

Obviously, with covid and the inability to host recruits over the last 14 months, that has changed some but Dabo will likely return to his way of doing business as he wants an offer from the Tigers to mean something.

That said, Clemson football is among the favorites to land 2023 west coast quarterback, Malachi Nelson.

The most intriguing aspect of this – he hasn’t even received an offer from Clemson yet. He is expected to be on campus sometime this summer after visit restrictions are lifted and an official offer will more than likely follow.

For the class of 2023, only one offer has been extended from Coach Swinney and that was to former Tiger and first-round NFL pick AJ Terrell’s younger brother – Avieon Terrell, who is also a corner at Westlake High School in the Atlanta area.

Given the current state of the 2022 Clemson football class, getting a commitment from a five-star quarterback may help recruit more talent for the next signing class that currently sits 25th in the nation and third in the ACC behind Boston College and FSU.

When you look at per player rating in the 2022 recruiting cycle, at an average of 94.08 Clemson football is just slightly behind Alabama (95.72), Oklahoma (94.61), and UGA (94.24). All this means is Clemson lacks quantity in the class and but clearly not quality.

We are still eight months away from the early 2022 signing period and 20 months away from the 2023 early signing period. A lot can and will happen between now and then.

What we do know, is that once Dabo gets a recruit on campus he has a ridiculously high closing rate, and now that the Tigers can unleash their secret weapon (Clemson itself) again this summer, expect recruiting to pick back up with a vengeance.