Gatorade Player of the Year excited about next chapter as a Tiger

Pearman works out at Dabo Swinney's high school camp last June.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Feb 04 08:00:05 GMT-05:00 2022

Trent Pearman knows that Clemson’s quarterback room will be crowded in 2022, but he isn’t worried about the depth chart or the fight for playing time. Instead, he wants to take next season and grow as a player and a person while navigating his freshman year of college.

Pearman, a quarterback out of nearby Daniel High School and the son of football staffer Danny Pearman, is set to enter the Clemson football program as a preferred walk-on. Pearman completed his high school career with a 24-0 record at Daniel and back-to-back state championships, the last of which came via a 45-20 win over Camden on Dec. 3. He went 27-for-36 passing with four touchdowns for 272 yards in the contest. He was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in South Carolina for a second time.

Pearman had scholarship offers from UAB and Western Carolina, and Alabama head coach Nick Saban offered him as a preferred walk-on. But Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made his intentions known early last fall, offering Pearman the preferred walk-on spot.

“I've had it since the start of my senior year. Coach Swinney sat down and talked with me saying, ‘Hey, I'd really want you at Clemson,’” Pearman said. “And he told me to go through the recruiting process, and I did, and I went to places and looked at places, but I realized very quickly nothing's like Clemson -- and Clemson is home and family.

“I did the recruiting process and it's just not the same as back home.”

Pearman would love to one day earn a scholarship, but that isn’t the focus.

“That's one day a future goal, but I'm just going in there and trying just to build myself on as a person and as a player,” Pearman said. “And whether that is getting a scholarship or not, that's not my main focus. Yeah, that would be great, but I just want to be the best player I could be, whether that's a scout team player or future backup or future starter.”

Clemson’s quarterback group includes DJ Uiagalelei, 5-star freshman Cade Klubnik, Hunter Helms, Billy Wiles, and transfer Hunter Johnson. Pearman intends to watch and listen and develop.

“Oh, without a doubt. I think it would be dumb if I didn't,” he said. “I think it's a year for me to develop and grow, whether that's just sitting there listening to DJ and all those dudes just think and calculate or just them off the field doing their own stuff. So I'm just going to take a year and develop as much as I can to be the best I can be.”

Pearman will enroll for Summer II, and he said he’s looking forward to seeing the ins and outs of the football program from a different angle.

“On my official visit here a couple weeks ago, I sat down and talked to Coach (Brandon) Streeter about football and about things other than football,” Pearman said. “It was different, but I loved it. And now that I'm a player, going to be a player this summer, I'm excited for just a new everything. New classes, new friends, new just mindset of everything, and it's going to be fun.”