Clemson Football: Khalil Barnes commits to Tigers

One of the few remaining Clemson Football Class of 2023 targets has come off the board and announced that he will be a Tiger.

Khalil Barnes of Bogart, Georgia verbally committed to Clemson on Friday. He is 6’-1” and 185 pounds. He has a 3-star rating in the 247Sports Composite rankings.

247Sports lists Barnes as an athlete with no specific position. Clemson has been recruiting Barnes as a defensive back.

Barnes selected Clemson over Notre Dame. He verbally committed to Wake Forest in late June but elected to re-open his recruitment following Clemson’s scholarship offer in September. The Irish offered a couple of weeks later, setting up the two programs as the finalists for Barnes’s commitment.

Barnes just wrapped up his senior season at North Oconee High School. You can see quickly why he is listed as an athlete by watching his Hudl highlights of this season. The first play shows Barnes lining up at wide receiver, catching a lateral from the quarterback, and then throwing a pass into the end zone for a touchdown.

Subsequent highlights show Barnes on both offense and defense. He is positioned at both cornerback and safety when lined up on the defensive side of the ball. Barnes is listed as 6’-1”, but he looks taller when on the field for North Oconee.

The 2023 Class for Clemson Football is almost complete

Barnes joins Kylen Webb and Robert Billings as safety commitments for 2023. Barnes is the eleventh 2023 from the state of Georgia, and the 25th commitment overall following Jarvis Green’s commitment on Tuesday.

The Early Signing Period opens on December 21st. The last offer for the class that has not announced a verbal commitment is running back Jamarius Haynes. He was originally expected to announce his decision on the 21st, but now it looks like he will wait until the traditional February window to have an announcement ceremony.

The possibility exists that Clemson might augment its 2023 class with transfers, but that remains to be seen.