Elijah Daniel (6'4 250, 4.68 40) from Avon, Indiana committed to Clemson today over offers from Florida, Ole Miss, Ohio State, FSU and Tennessee among others. Daniel is ranked the #13 Strongside DE nationally, #172 player overall. He is originally from Alabama. He was recruited primarily by Brent Venables.
Daniel's film shows he has some real explosion off the edge but from what I saw he might be a little bette suited to weakside right now. Certainly after he learns to hold his own against the run in anchoring he could flip back to the strongside, but as of today he wouldn't be best suited to the spot. Its been said that in camps this spring he's done much better due to added strength however. First step is really good. Bull rush shows his power and why he plays SDE in HS, but I do see some usage of a swim move. Most importantly, he appears to have a good motor.
Depending on his strength development, he might slide in behind Nkemdiche or fight it out with Aiken and Lawson on the weakside behind Corey Crawford when he steps on campus, but I doubt this one redshirts unless both Aiken and Lawson are well ahead of him. We'll certainly have a better read on Kevin Dodd and Rod Byers at strongside by the time Daniel gets here. This commitment fills the 2nd of what I hope is 3 DE takes this cycle, and is the 2nd elite DE commit in a week, which fills a major need. I can't emphasize enough how we need the edge talent.
Now can we get this kind of talent at OL?
Daniel is Clemson's 9th commitment for 16 spots, but we expect to sign 18ish players in February.
(These are sophomore highlights)