WR/RB Germone Hopper (6’0 165lbs) from Charlotte’s Berry Academy committed to Clemson today during an unofficial visit with his teammate LB Nick Dawson. Hopper is recruited by Danny Pearman officially, though it seems Chad Morris has been heavily involved with this one. He claims Brentson Buckner as a mentor and reportedly grew up a Tiger. He has offers from Auburn, UNC, Virginia Tech, and Tennessee among others. He’s expected to be in the first Rivals250 list, which means he’s likely going to start out as a 4-star athlete, if that stuff matters to you.
Hopper is a speedster who ran a 21.4 200m (Sammy Watkins ran just north of 21.5) at a recent track event. His 40 is listed at 4.48. He’s also elusive in open space on his film, unlike a lot of track guys who are only fast in straight lines. Obviously the comparison is going to be made to Watkins or Craig, two other speedsters on the roster, but he’s not on the same level as Watkins in terms of ball skill and physicality at WR. He isn’t afraid to take a hit either though. He plays RB in HS but has the hands of a Spiller and is often in motion catching passes like CJ did for us. He had over 500 yards receiving and 1500 rushing last year, 300 and 1200 respectively the year before.
Morris has told him he’ll be at the tweener ‘2’ position, where we projected Craig or Bellamy would get the majority of their snaps next year. From our study of Tulsa film, it is basically the slot position but gets a lot of jet/fly sweeps. There are often 2 slot receivers and/or a TE/H in the backfield in most of Morris’ sets. Morris had a smaller, fleet-footed WR who manned the position last year. Hopper is basically in that mold, another Onterrio McCalleb-type of player.
Swinney/Scott have stated that they intend to sign just one WR in 2012 cycle. This would fill the need for depth at slot (Watkins, Craig, McNeal, and possibly McDowell will be here at slot in 2012) with Marquan Jones leaving. Considering the high number of offers we have out at the position, I do expect us to sign at least one more WR, but it should be only a high-rated player worthy of oversign at the position.
Hopper is commitment #3 of the 2012 class, and they project 16 signees. I project 18 at least however. Hopper’s teammate Nick Dawson is rated as the top LB in NC, and this commitment should help us get his.