Clemson Football made a huge change to its recruiting philosophy in 2022, and it paid dividends. Early indications are that the Tigers will stick with that change with hopes that they will see similar results.
Coveted Class of 2024 linebacker Sammy Brown has announced that he will visit Clemson on June 3rd, which is the first weekend of the month. Brown is a 5-star recruit in the 247Sports Composite ranking. He is ranked 13th nationally and the No. 1 linebacker prospect overall.
Last summer, the first weekend of June is when Clemson held their first major official visit weekend under Coach Dabo Swinney. The Tigers hosted over two dozen rising seniors on campus.
Clemson then gained twelve verbal commitments during June following that official weekend. Given the importance of a major recruit like Brown, it seems likely that the Tigers are planning for the first weekend in June to be another milestone in their pursuit of Class of 2024 prospects.
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Before 2022, Clemson usually wouldn’t host any prospects on official visits. They would instead invite them for officials during the season when the prospect could see a home game in Death Valley.
Clemson Football saw great success from the 2022 official visit weekend, so it makes sense to do it again in 2023
Several changes to the recruiting landscape over the past few years have led to high school prospects wanting to accelerate the timeline for committing. Many of those recruits wanted to make a verbal commitment before their senior season of high school football began. Those recruits would be verbally committed before Clemson could ever bring them in for officials.
Coach Swinney and the staff saw the way the wind was shifting and adjusted their recruiting strategy. With the success of the 2022 official visit weekend, the Tigers look to be repeating that strategy in 2023.
It remains to be seen how quickly the guest list for June will be filled out. Several prospects will likely visit unofficially during the spring, and their invitations will likely be made in person. Many of those visits will come during spring practice, so the list of June attendees will likely take shape by the spring game on April 15th.
With regards to Brown, this announcement in itself appears to be a big win for the Tigers. Georgia has also hosted official visits during the first weekend of June. With one Bulldog recruit already announcing that he will visit Athens for an official visit that weekend, it would appear Georgia intends to host official visitors as well. Clemson beat Georgia to the punch with Brown announcing that he will attend the Tigers’ big weekend instead of the Bulldogs.