Clemson football: 5-star QB Arch Manning sets Tigers as his first summer visit

One of the top targets for the Clemson football program in the 2023 recruiting class is set to take a visit to Tiger Town to begin his summer.

5-star QB Arch Manning– the nephew of former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning & Eli Manning- has scheduled several visits to begin next month when the NCAA dead period comes to an end. The first school on his list? Clemson.

According to reports from 247 Sports’ Steve Wiltfong, Manning will be making a trip to Clemson on June 8-9 for Dabo Swinney’s camp. He’ll be camping with his brother Heid Manning, who is a center.

After the Clemson visit, Manning will spend the next weekend at SMU and Texas before heading to Georgia the following weekend. He’ll conclude the month of June with a visit to Alabama.

"“I think Arch is going into everything wide-eyed and excited to meet people and learn,” Manning’s father said. “We know things change. Just gaining knowledge and traction and friendships and seeing how people do it and taking notes, this guy is serious, this guy is fun loving, this guy loves talking football. When you’re a sophomore you’re learning what you like and what you don’t like. He’s excited and we’re excited to go see what these schools are all about. I haven’t spent time with any of these coaches and my wife is excited to go see what Clemson is like and we’re excited to meet Kirby (Smart) and see Alabama’s facilities. I’ve never met Nick (Saban) or (Steve) Sarkisian.”"

In addition to the schools mentioned above, Manning’s father mentioned LSU, Ole Miss, North Carolina, Virginia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Stanford and USC all as places of interest.

There’s a long way to go in this recruitment, but Clemson football gets a key shot at an important first impression

It’s not likely that you’re going to see Manning commit anytime soon.

He’s going to take his visits during the summer and might not make a decision until some time next year. He’s going to sift through schools this summer and fall and we’ll likely start to see him zero-in on his top choices at the start of 2022.

That being said, you only get one shot at a first impression.

His parents are going to be visiting during the camp weekend and this is an opportunity for the facilities to be showcased and for Manning to see what Clemson is all about.

It will be interesting to see how his recruitment plays out over the next year, but for now we can definitely say that the Tigers are in it and that is evident in them being the first school he’ll visit this summer.