In-state tight end to make final decision Friday

Deal poses with Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed May 23 08:21:42 GMT-04:00 2018

Luke Deal has his decision date set, but he isn’t sure yet which school he will attend.

The 3-star tight end out of Greenwood (SC) Emerald set May 25th (Friday) for his commitment announcement date, and he's sticking to it even though he doesn't yet know which school he will pick.

Deal has said he will announce the decision sometime between 7:00-8:30 PM Friday night at a gathering with family and friends. The finalists are Clemson, Notre Dame, Auburn, Michigan, and NC State after Ohio State was trimmed from his final list.

Deal took official visits to each of his finalists except Clemson, but he’s made several trips t the Clemson campus after growing up a big Clemson fan. He has also been on the Clemson campus multiple times as a recruit and made one final pre-decision visit to Clemson last Friday.

"Since I didn't do an official there, I kind of wanted to see myself in a film session with Coach Pearman," Deal said. "We got to talk a lot of X’s and O’s and what they would do with me and how they've used tight ends in the past. That's what I was looking for, so that's good, that's what I saw. That's really the only thing I was missing. I felt like I needed to go back and check that out."

Recruiters from all of his finalists – except Clemson - will make final in-person pitches this week. Clemson has already used its two visits. NC State was in Monday. Auburn and Notre Dame were in Tuesday. Michigan is in on Thursday.

After those meetings, it will be time for Deal to make the tough call.

"It is, but this is what it's all been leading up to," Deal said. "I've been thinking about it, praying about it, talking to my family about it. I feel I'll be ready by Friday. Whatever I do, whatever I decide is going to be the best decision because it's going to be the one that I choose and I'm not going to go back on it. I'm going to look straight ahead."

At the end of the day, Deal is looking for one thing out of his school of choice.

"Overall fit, not just football fit and culture with the staff, with the school itself," Deal said. "I just want to be somewhere where I will thrive and improve the next three to four years."