5-star Clemson football target reveals top 5, announces commitment date

Dabo Swinney and Clemson football have had a busy summer.

Outside of recruiting at an elite level, Dabo and the Tigers have watched as one of their 2026 commits fared well as the Elite 11 Finals. While Tait Reynolds put on a show, Clemson fans were wondering if he would be the next great quarterback recruit to play for the Tigers. And then Clemson landed a four-star quarterback in the 2027 class.

Dabo has done a little of everything this offseason, too, like speaking to his childhood favorite football team which is now home to one of his former players and he also appeared at Memorial Stadium for the Savannah Bananas game.

Just this past week, he partook in ACC Media Days and delivered plenty of great quotes.

Now, he's lobbying to land his first five-star in the 2026 class. He recently missed out on five-star defensive lineman Bryce Perry-Wright who chose Texas A&M and head-scratchingly called the Aggies "DLU" which riled up Clemson fans and coaches. He also lost five-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson to Texas.

Swinney is hoping for better luck with Darius Gray.

Gray has trimmed his list of finalists down to five and he announced a commitment date of Aug. 22. He will be choosing between LSU, Clemson, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Ohio State.

I wish he would've waited another week and chose his school based on the winner of the Clemson-LSU game in Death Valley (the real one). All jokes aside, this is one of the most heated recruitments remaining, and it's going to take a great closing argument for him to choose Clemson.

Gray is ranked the No. 16 overall recruit and the No. 1 interior offensive lineman in the 2026 class, according to 247Sports.

Let's hope Dabo and Co. get some great news on Aug. 22.