Clemson football: Recruiting the state of Georgia key for Tigers

At one time Clemson looked to Florida for out of state talent, but that has changed for the most part.

You don’t have to look very far to find players from the state of Georgia playing a prominent role in Clemson football lore, among them quarterbacks by the name of Watson and Lawrence, but the state produces more than just quarterbacks.

As a matter of fact, all three quarterbacks that have led Clemson to National Championships are from the Peach State.

The state of South Carolina waxes and wanes in high school talent and what there is to be had is generally shared with the team from Columbia and 2023 happens to not be the best of years for the state.

Zero of Clemson’s 15 current commitments are from the state of South Carolina, while seven of the fifteen are from Georgia.

"Clemson frequently has to recruit beyond the borders of South Carolina due to the state’s smaller population. The Tigers frequently go into Florida and Georgia, but historically, Clemson’s favorite state to recruit in beyond South Carolina has been the Peach State."

Not only that, but the Tigers aren’t exactly getting leftovers from the Peach State:

"The Tigers have seven commitments from Georgia including one form the state’s No. 2 overall recruit, Vic Burley. Clemson has commitments from seven of the top 40 recruits in Georgia."

Georgia’s not the only out of state region that the Tigers mine for elite recruits.

Clemson also gets a fair amount of talent from North Carolina and has recently become more active in the football rich environs of Texas, with three players from the state capital of Austin on the roster or committed and additional players from the state on the roster, committed or projected to be Tigers.

There was a time where Florida dominated the out of state recruiting for the Tigers, especially at the skill positions, with Spiller, Watkins and Ford among others dominating the numbers.

Now? Half of the 2023 commitments hail from the state just south of the Palmetto state, where the talent is off the charts good and plentiful enough for the Tigers to get their share.