Matt Luke was announced as the new offensive line coach for Clemson Football in December and he wasted no time getting to work.
Not only did Luke jump in and start coaching his group for the Gator Bowl victory over Kentucky but he also closed the Class of 2024 with a commitment from Elyjah Thurmon.
As the new year started, he worked hard on the next class with the 2025 prospects. One recruit, Easton Ware, was already committed. He then gained the commitment of Brayden Jacobs (son of New York Giants’ Brandon Jacobs), followed by Rowan Byrne this past week.
As mentioned in the Clemson Tigers News this morning, another 2025 target, Mal Waldrep, announced a verbal commitment to Alabama.
Committed #rolltide🐘 @Hayesfawcett3 pic.twitter.com/9tESkEyZwa
— Mal Waldrep (@WaldrepMal) June 11, 2024
Waldrep is a good player, and most accounts indicate he liked Clemson, but his family’s ties to Alabama pulled him in that direction.
Where does Clemson turn their focus to now for offensive line prospects? The Tigers will almost definitely pull in one more recruit and very likely could go after two.
The obvious answer here is David Sanders, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is the overall 3rd ranked player in the 247Sports Composite regardless of position. He has visited Clemson several times and recently took an official visit.
Most accounts indicate that Sanders has a good head on his shoulders and would be an amazing fit at Clemson. They also indicate he will do all of his due diligence, which means he will take all his official visits. That in turn means a decision isn’t in the immediate future, but likely will come before his senior high school season begins at Providence Day.
Most accounts also indicate Sanders will consider all the relevant factors, though how he will prioritize those factors is unknown. In other words, we don’t know if he will consider things like culture (which is a strength for Clemson) over things like NIL (which Clemson will not guarantee for new players).
The only other uncommitted offer to offensive tackles is to Josh Petty from Roswell, Georgia, but it appears he is going in a different direction. He once planned to visit Clemson for an official visit but then changed those plans, indicating a match isn’t likely.
Several interior offensive line prospects have offers that are still strong possibilities for Clemson. Hardy Watts and Mario Nash, Jr. are the most likely to eventually join the Tigers.
Watts traveled for an official visit to Clemson but wasn’t able to arrive until most of the other visitors were departing. 247Sports says he visited Wisconsin this past weekend and plans to visit Duke and Michigan.
Nash was also at the Official Visit Weekend. He visited Ole Miss last weekend and intends to visit LSU and Mississippi State this summer. 247Sports lists a planned visit to Florida State in early October. If Nash goes through with all of his visits before announcing a decision, it could be several months before we know his plans.
Unless something drastic happens, it looks like additions for the offensive line in this class will come from one of these three offers. We will just have to be patient while they do their due diligence.