Top OL recruits are front and center for Elite Junior Day

Jacobs will be back at Clemson for Elite Junior Day.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Jan 23 07:00:04 GMT-04:00 2024

College football games are won in the trenches, and new offensive line coach Matt Luke and the Clemson coaching staff are hosting six big offensive linemen for this weekend’s Elite Junior Day.

Clemson’s offensive line has been a source of consternation for fans over the last three or four seasons, and head coach Dabo Swinney brought Luke back into coaching to not only bring an edge to the Tigers’ front but also to recruit the bigger bodies needed to compete against the best competition.

It didn’t take Luke long to reach out to some of the best prospects, and he will host a number of them this weekend.

The headliner is 5-star David Sanders Jr. out of Charlotte (NC) Providence Day. Swinney and Luke visited Sanders last week and stayed around to watch Sanders' younger sister play basketball. The 6-foot-5.5, 250-pounder holds offers from more than 30 programs, including a who’s who of college football: Clemson, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and more.

Also scheduled to be on campus are 4-star Jaylan Beckley of Addison (TX) Trinity Christian Academy, 4-star Brayden Jacobs out of Buford (GA), 4-star Chauncey Gooden out of Nashville (TN) Lipscomb Academy, 4-star Mason Short of Evans (GA), and Phenix City (AL) Central 4-star Mal Waldrep.

Beckley is a name to watch coming out of the visit, and he told TigerNet last week that he is excited about spending more time with the coaches than he did during camp last June.

“I think it'll be really good. I'm most excited for that because a lot of times during camp visits, those are really just business,” he said. “So it's hard for the coaches to be focused on much of anything else. They still did an amazing job while I was up there, making sure that I spent my time wisely, and that was appreciated. But I think it'll be a lot better for me and for them just for us both to be able to really have like a conversation with each other and spend some time with each other in kind of a more relaxed environment. I'm very excited about that.”

He is also looking forward to spending time with Swinney.

“The biggest thing I'm looking forward to is just getting more personal time with Coach Swinney,” Beckley said. “That and getting more familiar with Coach Luke and just being able to meet him, face to face, put a face to a name in person. And probably one of the other biggest things is seeing the other recruits and other guys that they have there and seeing potential guys that I could be playing with. Just kind of talking to them a little bit and getting a feel for them.”

Jacobs was also at camp last June and, like Beckley, walked away with a Clemson offer. He was back on campus for the game against Florida State in September but also visited Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee.

The son of former NFL running back Brandon Jacobs, he has Clemson near the top of his list.

Short de-committed from Alabama after Nick Saban stepped down as head coach earlier this month (and following a pre-planned trip to Athens).

Swinney and Luke stopped by Evans to visit with the 6-foot-6, 295-pounder, who was committed to the Crimson Tide at the time. Short was also visited by Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who landed in a helicopter on the football field at Evans High.

Gooden announced a top 10 via social media back in December that featured Clemson along with Michigan, Oregon, Auburn, Colorado, Oklahoma, Tennessee, South Carolina, Missouri and Georgia. The 6-foot-4, 315-pound junior is ranked as high as the No. 155 overall prospect in the 2025 class by 247Sports, which considers him the nation’s No. 8 interior offensive lineman in his class and the No. 4 overall prospect in the state of Tennessee.

Waldrep is a Clemson legacy recruit who also earned an offer at Clemson’s camp last June. He also visited for the Tigers’ win over Georgia Tech in November. He has the Tigers in the mix of his top schools.