Adrian Baker details transfer options and plans

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Feb 11 15:21:45 GMT-05:00 2017

Adrian Baker isn’t in a rush to find a new school and team.

Baker announced earlier this week that he would transfer from Clemson and play at another school next season, and once the announcement was made his phone began to ring off the hook. And, contrary to what many believe, he doesn’t have a favorite or a front-runner, not even his hometown Miami Hurricanes.

Baker will graduate from Clemson in May and said he’s working on making sure his school work is up to date before finding his next school.

“A lot of schools have reached out to me, but I haven’t really had a chance to talk to them,” Baker told TigerNet Friday night. “I’ve had a lot of work to do this week for school, and I’ve really just been trying to take care of that first. A lot of people think I am just going to go to Miami, but I’ve heard from Texas Tech, Arizona St., Michigan, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Central Florida, Memphis, Abilene Christian, Coastal Carolina and Kentucky and Miami.”

Baker will take his visits after his new daughter, Ava, visits Clemson next week.

“A lot of schools want me to take visits starting next week, but Ava is coming up,” Baker said. “I will probably start taking visits the second week of March. I will take all five official visits, and with the Florida schools, I might take unofficial visits with those and just drive to them and check them out. I will start sometime in March and go into April.”

Baker missed the 2016 season while recovering from a knee injury suffered last spring, but he returned to practice late in the season and was expected to compete for a spot at cornerback this spring. He started three games in 2015, logging 253 snaps, and had 15 tackles and two interceptions in three games.

During the 2015 season, he started and logged 34 snaps in the win over Miami and posted three tackles. Baker nabbed his first career interception in the win over Florida State, and he played 42 snaps at South Carolina, with his second career interception. Both interceptions were in the redzone.

During his freshman campaign in 2014, he had one tackle in 46 snaps over four games.

Baker detailed the reasons for his transfer.

“it came down to putting myself in the best situation for me,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot of people talk about the depth chart, and people saying I am leaving because I didn’t think I was going to play. That isn’t the case. If I didn’t want to compete, then I would have left when I was behind Mackensie Alexander and Cordea Tankersley. I feel like for me, competing isn’t a problem. I just have to do what I have to do to make sure I have a chance at the next level.”

Baker has no restrictions on where he can transfer, and said Clemson’s coaches have handled the situation with class.

“When I met with Coach (Dabo) Swinney, he told me I was a good student and good character guy and he didn’t have any issues with me and he would give me a good recommendation to other coaches,” he said. “And I’ve talked to a few coaches and they’ve said that Clemson has had nothing but good things to say about me, and because I’ve played at Clemson that in itself is big. I’ve played on the best team in the country the last two years. Coach (Brent) Venables and D-Mac (DeAndre McDaniel) have all said they would look out for me.”