3-Star RB Kobe Pryor signs Letter of Intent

Clemson officially signs yet another player that joined its class during their insane recruiting month of May. Despite growing up a big UGA fan, the Dawgs never offered. When the Tigers did and were assured by Pryor that he would not look around even if he were to be offered by his dream school, this recruitment ended quickly. UGA reached out again multiple times after Pryor committed, but the prospect stuck to his promise and never wavered.

As a player Pryor shows a lot of promise. He may lack elite top speed, but he does have solid burst and quickness despite being close to 210 pounds already. Pryor will not wow you with his change of direction ability, but does possess the ability to be a receiver out of the backfield as well as the ability to destroy arm tackles. If Kobe gets a head of steam he will embrace that contact and take you out. Pryor is more than just physicality though, and in the open field he is still more than capable or making his man miss.

While many wanted Clemson to take Daniyel Ngata with the 2nd RB take, Kobe is exactly what Tony Elliot was looking for. Elliot wanted a power back that could serve as a perfect compliment to a smaller Demarkcus Bowman, and he got just that. The 24/7 Sports ranking of Pryor is 919th overall, which is frankly ridiculous. Pryor ran a lackluster 40-yard time at an Opening Regional in Atlanta less than 24 hours after he had to compete in multiple state track meet events. Top speed might be an issue for Pryor’s final projection, but not only is his 4.83 40 likely inaccurate, but to rank him all the way down in the 900’s because of it is criminally low and ignoring important context.

He is the perfect “Thunder” to Demarkcus Bowman’s “Lightning”, and will give the RB room the power back skillset it currently lacks. Taking Kobe Pryor marks yet another underrated find in the Peach state for the Tigers, and will prove to be worth it on the field. There is a reason multiple schools continued to pursue Kobe after he committed. He may not be as gifted as a Demarkcus Bowman or Lyn-J Dixon next year, but he will have the body composition and size to contribute immediately if necessary. It will be very interesting to see how he fares against recent RB signees Chez Mellusi and Michel Dukes. Pryor has not released his Senior film, although his JR Highlights can be found here.

QT’s Take

Kobe Pryor has a lot of excellent qualities in a running back and provides skills that will be unique in the current RB room for Coach Tony Elliott. This recruitment was all about Elliott picking his guy and pursuing him harder than any other team. Pryor has legit offers, but coveted one from UGA. When they didn’t offer, deciding to pursue two backs higher on their board, Clemson was in the prime position to attract Kobe to campus and make him feel like a priority.

Pryor is going to fill the need of being a bigger back. He has the frame to continue to fill out. He is strong and shows decent quickness on tape. He doesn’t have great long speed, but he can hit the hole and shed tacklers when needed. He needs to improve that speed to be a bigger contributor at Clemson.