Dabo Swinney's pursuit for 5-star LB Tyler Atkinson just got a lot tougher

Dabo Swinney has an epic battle on his hands for a top recruiting target.

While the Tigers have had a relatively quiet few weeks of official visit season outside the commitments of Carter Scruggs and Leo Delaney, Clemson fans everywhere have their sights set on one target who could take the class from great to elite.

Tyler Atkinson is the No. 1 linebacker in the country in the 2026 class and he's been taking some official visits following his trip to Clemson on May 30.

Right after checking Clemson out, the five-star linebacker went to Oregon and got wooed by Dan Lanning and then he went to Georgia on June 13. He has been carefully planning his official visit schedule and now another top SEC contender has joined the fold, making this recruitment even tougher for Dabo and the Tigers to win.

According to reports, Atkinson will be at Texas this weekend.

Obviously this isn't great news for Clemson, but it's expected that he takes his share of officials before making a decision and it felt like the next one was between Texas and Ohio State.

The Longhorns are fresh off a College Football Playoff appearance where they beat Clemson to advance and they can use that as a recruiting pitch. Clemson, however, has the advantage of saying it might have the best defense in the country filled with NFL Draft picks and he could come in and compete for time right away and be the next first-rounder.

Either way, this recruitment just got tougher as it continues to heat up.

You can never count Dabo Swinney out, though. He made an impression on Atkinson that he won't soon forget and it's usually the first and last official visits that have the best chances.

We can hope.