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Brent Venables has typically been pretty decisive about what he likes in a linebacker. Hence Clemson's staff has tended to take prospects at that position earlier in a recruiting cycle than at most other positions, save quarterback.

One of the first two prospects he accepted in this newcomer class was Media (Penn.) Malvern Prep’s Keith Maguire, who was unranked by Rivals.com when he committed in April 2018 but rose to four-star stature at this time a year ago once our analysts saw him in-person over the summer.

Maguire was relatively rocked up, had good film as an athlete and was someone Venables held in high regard after verifying his appraisal in-person during that spring evaluation period, per our intel.