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1. Two major Clemson recruiting weekends, back to back?
March madness really is here.
From January until the end of spring, colleges hold what have become known as junior days -- events where high school juniors travel to your campus to get a feel for the program in advance of their big college decision.
These used to be introductory functions. Now there are plenty of instances where they account for suitors' closing arguments because of how travel has increased and recruits are seeing schools so many times early in their high school tenure.
Clemson's recruiting calendar under Dabo Swinney has traditionally featured three spring key dates: The late January elite junior day, a more expansive early March junior day tied to the first Saturday spring practice, and the April spring game.
Prospects have always come and gone throughout March and April to various spring practices or take tours during their spring break, and more naturally come on the weekends out of convenience.
Yet on Saturday, Clemson took its efforts a step further, putting together what amounted to a sophomore day for a wealth of 2024 prospects and younger whom hold its interest.
After beginning the day with a snack, attendants toured the facilities, watched a spring practice, and then explored the campus after lunch. There were PAW Journey and NIL presentations before prospects spent time with staffers to close the day.
The gathering sought to serve a purpose in countering the narrative that because Clemson hasn't offered the rising juniors yet, it isn't as interested as those schools that have offered them (and everyone else already on the radar.)
An opening round of 2024 offers will go out June 1, of which several attendants were reminded.
While we've argued the Tigers have a statement to make with 2023 recruiting after events, results and perception of the past year, here's feeling they made a smart and proactive move in adding a measure to get out in front with a number of underclassmen.
2. Of course, offering will do that too. And several took notice of the day's biggest development.
It's rare we open with news on a sophomore.
It's even more rare for Clemson to give one an offer before the aforementioned date.
But the Tigers did just that with Jefferson (Ga.) high-four star linebacker Sammy Brown.
Brown (6-2, 220), ranked No. 23 nationally by Rivals.com, has been on recruiting radars for a while. Georgia offered one year ago this past week, with Tennessee and South Carolina among the others regionally to hop in at that time. Ohio State pulled the trigger immediately after his full sophomore film came out. If you need to know how Clemson felt, Oklahoma offered two weeks after former Tigers coordinator Brent Venables arrived.
Talent obviously factors into the equation; one of our contacts invoked the case of Deshaun Watson, in as much just to highlight that this is an outlying offer.
But Dabo Swinney also doesn't make this move without extenuating factors.
Swinney offered Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake four-star corner Avieon Terrell before his sophomore year. Aveion was a solid prospect, yet the Tigers already knew everything to know about him and his family through the recruitment and college career of his brother, NFL first-rounder A.J. Terrell. Moreover, Avieon had competed at the Swinney Camp for several summers.
In Swinney's eyes, that's close enough to family.
Which was the same principle applied to Brown.
As we've previously chronicled, Brown's father played at Furman when longtime strength coach Joey Batson was at the school, and was a teammate of Clemson director of high school relations Mike Dooley.
Sammy has participated in the Swinney Camp since age 10. He visited for the Boston College game in October.
Bottom line, every rule has exceptions ... and Brown was deemed warranting.
Now, he is far from the finish line.
Brown goes to see Oklahoma and Ohio State during his spring break early next month, and he wants to get to Notre Dame and some other distant schools in order to do his initial due diligence.
But the locals have dug in early, and UGA stands as a formidable foe. Brown attended the Dawgs' championship celebration in January and drew a helicopter visit from Kirby Smart shortly thereafter.
Brown told us he was so shocked by Clemson's offer that the excitement didn't kick in until later. He knows how rare such an offer is and the statement Swinney made in extending it.
The Tigers are rolling the dice that it will pay the long-term dividend it has before.
Per our sources, we do not expect any more underclassmen offers until that first 2024 wave to start the summer.
3. A 2024 offer wasn't the only surprise that materialized Saturday.
A last-minute decision -- really, the day before -- culminated in an appearance for a four-star in-state target.
As we noted on the WestZone message board, Roebuck (S.C.) Dorman offensive lineman Markee Anderson showed up with his father.
Anderson (6-3, 300) collected a Clemson offer last September, and the Tigers were believed in solid shape with the latest from a fruitful high school pipeline.
