Clemson flips intriguing 2025 QB prospect away from Costal Carolina
With the 2025 high school football recruiting class set to sign with their intended universities early next month, the Clemson Tigers still had one glaring omission from their recruiting haul. They didn't have a quarterback committed. That all changed on Tuesday though.
Chris Denson, a 3-star QB from Plant City, Florida announced on X that he has committed to the Tigers after previously being committed to Coastal Carolina since April. This comes only one day after he received an offer from Dabo Swinney and Co.
Rated by the 247Sports.com composite rankings as the No. 839 overall prospect in his class, he's the No. 50 QB in the country. In addition to Clemson and Coastal Carolina, he holds offers from Minnesota, Pitt, South Florida, Toldeo, Liberty, Akron, and others.
According to MaxPreps.com, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound lefty has 2,334 yards passing for 28 touchdowns and three interceptions through 12 games this season. Additionally, he's run for rushed 1,159 yards on 113 carries with 12 more touchdowns.
While a 3-star flip from Coastal Carolina isn't the type of development that is going to set the Clemson fandom on fire, it is a nice win for the program considering that the Tigers had to scramble to find a QB for the current recruiting class after 4-star prospect Blake Herbert flipped from Clemson to Notre Dame in October. That left little time for Swinney and his staff to find a new signal caller to add to the 2025 class.
Andrew Ivins of 247Sports.com has the following scouting report on Denson:
"Dual-threat lefty that plays a backyard brand of football. Rather unconventional in his ways, but makes plays others simply canβt as he can escape pressure and buy time with a dynamic lower half. Not a ton of third-party verified information available, but did measure just over 6-foot-1 summer before junior season. Comfortable operating on the move and has frequently been asked to sprint out and connect with in or out-breaking targets. Exits high school as a two-year starter, having completed just over 63 percent of his passes. More notably, rushed for 1,159 yards as a senior while averaging 10.3 yards per carry. Will likely need a few semesters to fine-tune his mechanics and learn how to dissect complex college defenses, but should be viewed as an athletic signal caller with developmental upside that can thrive in an RPO-heavy spread attack."
With this commitment, the 2025 Clemson recruiting class now has 14 players. But despite it being on the smaller side, the class still ranks No. 26 nationally according to 247Sports.com.
Prospects can sign with schools in the early window, which is open this year from December 4-6. That means that we are just days away from seeing schools across the country put their recruiting classes to bed. Thus, landing a player of Denson's caliber, especially at the quarterback position, is a nice last-minute win for the Clemson footbal program.