By Hale McGranahan.

Feel good about what just happened, because it’s been a while.

Albert Huggins didn’t even play football the last time Clemson picked up the top-rated prospect from the state of South Carolina.

The No. 1 ranked prospect in the state, according to 247, Rivals and Scout, Huggins committed to Clemson’s 2015 class on Friday morning at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School.

Clemson hasn’t signed the state’s top-ranked player by 247 and Rivals since 2009 when Malliciah Goodman agreed to play for newly-minted head coach Dabo Swinney.

A year earlier, Da’Quan Bowers, Scout’s No. 1 from South Carolina, inked with Clemson. Everybody had him as the state’s top player in 2008. ESPN liked Bowers so much they named him the best prospect in the country.

Swinney’s done pretty well for himself in the years since then, signing a few five-stars from outside of the Palmetto State: Tajh Boyd, Sammy Watkins, Stephone Anthony and Tony Steward.

With all of that success on the recruiting trail, the drought of missing out on the state’s top football player stuck in the crawl of more than a few Clemson fans. And it certainly made matters worse when No. 1 would take his talents to Columbia.

That half-decade or so stretch where everything seemed to go South Carolina’s favor appears to be coming to a close — that includes both the recruiting trail and the football field.

Bask in the glory.