Clemson football: Tigers made major impression on 4-star DB

The Clemson football coaching staff rolled out the ‘orange’ carpet for several highly-touted prospects this past weekend as part of the Elite Retreat.

The Tigers played host to more than a dozen 2022 recruits as they look to make up ground in a cycle where things have not necessarily gone their way to this point. Clemson has four current commitments, but we have reason to believe that number is soon to change and the Elite Retreat did nothing but solidify that opinion.

Every single prospect on campus this past weekend for the retreat is considered a ‘top priority’ target and one of those who Clemson football made the biggest impression upon was 4-star S Sherrod Covil.

Covil, who is rated as the No. 11 safety in the country and the No. 10 overall player from the state of Virginia, was in town for the retreat and the returns coming away from the visit are exactly what Clemson football fans want to hear.

The talented 4-star safety prospect is trending towards Clemson football

At the time of this writing there has not been a commitment and there might not be for a while, but the returns show that Clemson certainly should feel good about where it stands.

Following the weekend, four 247 Sports recruiting insiders- Steve Wiltfong, Anna Hickey, Brian Dohn and Sean Fitz- all put in crystal ball predictions for the Tigers. All of them also listed their confidence for their prediction as ‘high.’ The lone crystal ball prediction for any other school but Clemson is Virginia Tech Insider Evan G. Watkins, who put in a prediction for the Hokies back in January and listed his confidence as ‘low.’

Here’s the scouting report on Covil, according to 247 Sports’ National Recruiting Analyst Brian Dohn:

"“Solid frame with ability to carry 200 pounds. Ferocious hitter at his best in the box. High energy and effort player. Plays tough and physical with an old school mentality of punishing receivers coming across the middle. Shifts weight well to transition from backpedal to driving on passes in front of him. Breaks on ball well and has body control to deliver bit hits in space. Very good tackler who goes through ball carrier. Gets off blocks and re-directs to ball carrier. Can chase down a play to the sideline. Fills run gaps aggressively and with purpose. Loves to jam when matched up against slot receiver. Has to refine man coverage skills, including opening hips to change direction laterally. Needs to add strength to his upper body. Impact player at Top 20 program. Mid to late round NFL draft pick.”"

One area that we’ve seen Clemson put emphasis in the last few recruiting cycles has been finding talented players at safety. If Covil was to commit, this would no doubt be a big pickup and would give the Tigers a player who could develop into an elite backend option defensively before it’s all said and done.

The one thing I like most about Covil is his aggressiveness. He certainly has the athleticism to cover in space, but his ability to play at such a physical level is what sets him apart.