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For more than a year, Clemson's staff targeted just one defensive tackle.
ALSO SEE: Clemson's verbal commitments for the class of 2021
The investment paid off.
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Greensboro (N.C.) Dudley four-star Payton Page announced his commitment to the Tigers on Tuesday night.
Page (6-4, 330), ranked No. 30 nationally by Rivals.com, picked Clemson over finalists Tennessee and UNC.
LSU and Oregon had rounded out his top five during the spring before the pandemic restrictions precluded a first visit to those schools, while Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Florida, Notre Dame, Penn State and South Carolina counted among his offers.
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Having brought in volume at the position the previous cycle, defensive tackles coach Todd Bates was particularly selective in his pursuit for this class and set a bull’s-eye on Page a year ago.
Page accounted for one of Clemson’s first offers dispensed when the Tigers turned the page to the 2021 class at the end of their high school junior years.
Consequently, Page attended a pair of Clemson games and was the only defensive tackle brought in for the program’s elite junior day in January.
Page also took visits to UNC and Tennessee during the spring, and each felt as if it might have momentum at various stages.
Yet the relationship that Bates forged with Page’s family, along with Clemson’s national profile and pedigree at the defensive tackle position, won out in the end .
As a junior, Page was credited with 80 tackles, eight sacks and 26 tackles for loss.
He becomes Clemson’s 14th commitment for the class, including the 12th pledge to rate as a four-star or higher by the network.
Page moves the Tigers up three spots to No. 8 in the Rivals.com team recruiting class rankings despite having the fewest commitments within the top 13. They also have the nation’s fourth-best average star rating per commitment (3.86).
Page becomes Clemson's third acquisition from the state of North Carolina for this cycle, joining four-star running back Will Shipley of Matthews and (DE) Zaire Patterson of Winston-Salem.
All 14 Clemson pledges are from out-of-state.
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