5/11/2022 football Edit

THE CLEMSON 30: Matt Bockhorst

Larry Williams

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The questions, three of them, are short but open-ended:

1) What are you up to nowadays?

2) What are your thoughts on the state of Clemson Football?

3) What do you make of the current landscape of college athletics amid the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness?

Tigerillustrated.com has spent the past two months tracking down 30 former Clemson football figures whose names still resonate with fans.

We will spend the better part of the next two months sharing their responses.

Today our 24th installment in THE CLEMSON 30 series features former Tiger offensive lineman Matt Bockhorst.

WHAT HE'S DOING NOW

Obviously the conclusion of my football career was rather abrupt. When the injury happened against Pitt, it was very clear to me that was going to be the end of the road for me just given my history of injuries.

But at the same time, I knew all along that whenever football ended I would go into wealth management. I became very convicted in that sentiment after doing an internship with Merrill Lynch through PAW Journey. I really just felt like it was a great career for me in that it matched up well with my personality and my abilities. It's just something that I'm really passionate about. So following the injury, my timeline became very defined.

Matt Bockhorst was billed four stars by Rivals.com in 2017. (Zach Hanby - Zachphoto.net/Tigerillustrated.com)

I had several connections with Merrill Lynch, but I was introduced to a gentleman by the name of Joe Schofield. He went to Clemson and has been in the Greenville area for essentially his entire life and has done exceptionally well in wealth management. His company was acquired by Beacon Pointe, which I now work for and he as well.

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Bill Spiers vouched on my behalf, among others. I think I hit it off with Joe very well early on. His desire and willingness to let me come in and be in a producing role early on is not an opportunity that a lot of people get.

I'm still finishing my MBA this summer, and I really appreciate Clemson letting me see that through. So in addition to that and working for Beacon Pointe in Greenville, we also have an office on Isle of Palms which is actually where I am right now. That office is now my office, and I'll be moving to Charleston full-time beginning in June.

To be able to come right in and be in that client-facing role and be able to take advantage of my relationships at such a young age is definitely a rare opportunity, and I'm very thankful that I have the ability to do that. It's been great to have someone like Joe, with his expertise and experience, in on those conversations.

I'm also on the advisory board for Clemson's Department of Management. I actually had a speaking engagement a couple weeks ago at the business school. It's been really exciting to get involved there, and I've also been involved in the Tiger Impact initiative.

In addition to that, a very close friend of mine who's the quarterback at Penn State, Sean Clifford, identified the need for marketing agencies to represent student-athletes in NIL deals. The idea is to look out for the student-athletes and not be predatory or coming at them with ulterior motives. I think you've seen that with certain agents who are now all of a sudden rebranding themselves as marketing agents. Not in all cases, but in certain ones it seems like they aren't necessarily acting in the best interests of their clients, and they're just trying to position themselves to land those players when they go to the NFL. I believe that's an ethical gray area.

Sean created Limitless NIL, which represents the players. Sean is really the figurehead, and he's driving the car as far as being extremely transparent and having everything they do be based in education.

And that's where myself and Beacon Pointe come in. Clients are directed to us for investment-advisory services. They're not forced to sign with us, and we're not operating for free. But what we are doing is dropping our minimum account size to zero, where traditionally our minimum account size has been $500,000.

So we feel like we're adding tremendous value to these student-athletes and allowing them to have access to true, private wealth-management services that also provide tax services for essentially a very large discount when you look at what the traditional minimum fee would be compared to what they are being charged.

Bockhorst was a second-team All-ACC selection in 2020. (Tigerillustrated.com)

So we're really excited about that, and I feel it's very valuable for all parties. I know the very small experience I had in the NIL space exists to give them perspective. I'm trying to be a voice of guidance and reason while educating them on what this excess wealth can mean for their financial picture long-term as an 18- or 19-year-old.

We have almost 70 former student-athletes within our company, and a lot of people who are passionate about sports. For us it was a no-brainer, and we're really looking forward to being a part of Sean's journey with Limitless, and ultimately being an asset to the student-athletes.

HIS THOUGHTS ON THE STATE OF CLEMSON FOOTBALL

Obviously I'm fresh off being directly in the program. Being around the team this past spring, there's a sense of being reinvigorated. Obviously we've seen a very large amount of turnover in the past year, following last season. A lot of exceptional coaches and players have kind of moved on, and we have a lot of new faces in different roles.

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I think it's exciting. I was very pleased in particular watching Coach Austin and what he was doing with the offensive line in the individual portions of practice. I thought that group collectively looked very good in the spring, and I think you've seen some of those younger guys take those steps they need to be taking when they get into their second and third and fourth years.

Even though last season was disappointing, I think there's still a lot of good. I know we're held to an extremely high standard at Clemson from a wins and losses perspective, and where we all expect to be at the end of the season. That's why even though we had a 10-win season and fought through a lot of adversity to get to that point, we all have our sights set on much bigger things, and things we're more accustomed to achieving.

There's a lot of ownership that needs to happen from within with the players. I think about K.J. Henry and Jordan McFadden, that group of guys who are now taking the reins as the older players in the program. It's really their job to make sure that the culture of what has made Clemson over the past 15 or so years continues to be the case.

So I'm very excited for the season, and we've got a lot of promising young guys as well. It won't be long now, but I have to say I'm not too envious of those guys when July and August roll around and they're in the middle of fall camp. I don't think I'm going to miss that at all too much.

HIS TAKE ON THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE OF COLLEGE ATHLETICS AMID THE TRANSFER PORTAL AND NAME, IMAGE AND LIKENESS

It is definitely a lot different from the traditional landscape that we've all known for many, many years.

One of the things I've always admired about Coach Swinney and Clemson was their reluctance to go into the portal. I think a lot of times teams find themselves in a situation where they're trying to put a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. And from a cultural perspective, there are challenges that arise when you bring people into a culture and they may or may not be a great fit for that culture. So I think Coach Swinney's stance on the portal is commendable. But I also think people need to recognize that Coach Swinney has been vocal about the fact that times are changing, and when a need does arise that will be something Clemson will pursue. And they already have, and I know they will be.

Bockhorst finished his Clemson career with 20 starts and over 1,700 snaps. (Getty)

I'm interested to see where things continue to go. Obviously it's just a new age. Part of me really hates the fact that there are people jumping ship on certain schools they signed with out of high school. I think in certain cases it's probably not in their best interest to seek new opportunities. But at the same time I don't believe it's correct or fair to say that in all cases someone entering the portal is a negative thing. No two situations are the same. So it's really just filtering through why somebody is in the portal, and if that reason is cause for concern.

With NIL, this has really exploded over the past few weeks into what were a lot of people's worst fears. You see people not even being remotely shy or sly about their desire to go to the school that's going to pay them the most. I do not believe that's what college athletics is about. And I think it's very disappointing that the lack of regulation in the space is allowing for this type of activity to take place. And I do not think that such situations are positive. It's very unfortunate. If you look at what the definition of NIL is, it's not what is happening in a lot of cases. It's not supposed to be pay for play.

If you take it as face value, I think NIL is a good thing. But what we have seen is sort of a Wild, Wild West where the floodgates open and now people are looking for ways to actively exploit the rules.

Tomorrow Tigerillustrated.com will release the 25th installment of THE CLEMSON 30.