Recruiting Update: Furman Visitors and a Top Target deciding soon?

The season is finally upon us. No longer will we have to resort to whatever drastic measures we stooped to for our offseason Football Fix. That horrible, torturous vacancy in our lives will at last be filled. I can’t even begin to tell y'all just how excited I am for another season of Clemson Football, and these last few months especially have dragged on and on.

But unlike the Football season, Recruiting never stops. The month-long dead period will be over on Saturday, and thus will allow recruits to once again visit campus. For this particular week, the majority of the prospects attending, or considering attending are apart of the 2020 class. As I’ve mentioned before the 2020 class is off to a red-hot start, and it probably won’t be much longer before the class once again expands (more on that later). Below is a list of relevant prospects in attendance this weekend:

List of known Furman visitors (Tentative visitor signified by *):

2019

4-star LB Kane Patterson

4-star DT Tyler Davis

3-star S/LB Ray Thornton (Clemson commit)

2020

5-star DE Myles Murphy*

4-star OT/OG Paul Tchio*

3-star WR Eddie Williams

3-star WR Ze’Vian Capers*

3-star WR Jalin Hyatt

3-star OT John Williams

It’s important to note that there will surely be more visitors for the game this weekend, but as of now these are the only ones confirmed publicly. Recruits will be added to the list as the weekend goes on.

Getting Myles Murphy on campus this weekend would be huge for Clemson. The 5-star End out of Georgia is a highly-coveted prospect in this cycle and would be a great fit for Brent Venables 4-man front. This is a Clemson-UGA battle early on, but Alabama and Auburn are also lurking. Eddie Williams and Capers are also notable visitors for this weekend. Both hold offers from WRU heading into the visit, and both have Clemson out in front or right near it. I’m sure Jeff Scott will want to evaluate and compare the JR film of many more WRs in the class first, so I don’t think a commitment is imminent on this front.

Kane Patterson

Ever since the 4-star LB out of Tennessee decommited from Ohio State following the Urban Meyer fiasco, Clemson has been the team heavily linked to Kane. The holdup for many before he commited to OSU, was the health of his knee. Having torn his ACL late in his Junior season, Kane was slow-played by a few schools in order to see whether or not his knee had fully recovered during his Senior season.

An ACL injury is never a good thing for any player, but it’s especially damaging in this case as Patterson is a LB that relies heavily on his athleticism and power. Most schools, especially Alabama, were waiting and doing their due diligence to see what his knee looked like for this upcoming season. It’s obvious right now that Clemson isn’t scared off by the knee injury, and is recruiting him hard right now. Patterson’s Father has numerous ties to the staff from his playing days that surely won’t hurt Clemson’s pursuit.

Personally, I rate Kane Patterson very highly. He is a top 150 talent, possibly top 100, and is a borderline top-5 2019 Inside Linebacker. When you have the ability to take such a big class, and have already have 4 (maybe 3 depending on how Greg Williams grows) backers in the class, it is worth the risk to take him now before other schools can enter/re-enter his recruitment. His talent is worth taking a chance on, and if his visit does indeed occur he may not leave town uncommited.

2020 Target Deciding Soon

Luke Hill, a 4-star 2020 Corner out of St. Johns High School in Washington D.C. will be making his collegiate decision this Saturday. His final 3 consists of Clemson, Florida, and South Carolina. I was a little surprised Penn State was not included in his top 3, however, I’m not sure ²⁄₃ “final” teams matter in this case. Hill grew up a Clemson fan and will surely choose the Tigers when he decides this Saturday. It would be the third commitment of the class, and would give Clemson a commited prospect at one of the most highly-recruited schools in the Mid-Atlantic.