Horn Lake (Miss.) five-star linebacker Nakobe Dean has never visited Clemson. However, Clemson’s Brent Venables is working hard to make sure that changes, sooner than later.

Dean (6-1, 215) said at The Opening regional camp in Atlanta recently that he communicates with Venables on a frequent basis. The message from the Tigers’ defensive coordinator and linebackers coach is simple: Come check out Clemson.

“Coach Venables texts me every other day. He wants me to get down there bad,” Dean said. “He basically just reiterates how bad he wants me to get down and see it for myself. He doesn’t want to tell me all these things, he just wants me to get down there and see it for myself.”

Dean intends to visit Clemson, he just isn’t sure exactly when. He is focused on his academics right now but anticipates having more room in his schedule to make trips this summer.

“I do plan on getting up there,” Dean said of Clemson. “I’ll probably do a lot of these visits in the summer when I have a little bit more time.”

When he gets on Clemson’s campus, Dean will be looking to gain a better grasp of the school and program.

“The feel and the people and everything,” he said of what he wants to find out about. “I want to also look at the kind of education they have academic wise. I want to see where the coaches see me playing in the defense.”

Clemson extended a scholarship offer to Dean in February.

“Watching them on TV, they fly around,” he said of the Tigers. “They’re a great team, ACC… I feel like they would be a great school.”

Last month, Dean narrowed his list of nearly 30 offers in half when he named a top 15 of Clemson, Alabama, Auburn, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Stanford and Texas A&M in no specific order.

Along with Clemson, he feels one conference is recruiting him harder than the rest.

“The SEC schools seem like they’re all hitting me hard,” he said.

Dean is looking to further trim his list in the “next month or so.”

“It’s coming quicker than I expected,” he said.

Some believe Alabama is the team to beat for Dean’s services. If you ask Dean, people close to him think he will ultimately stay in the state of Mississippi to play his college ball.

Dean, though, says leaving Mississippi is something he’s thought about a lot.

“That’s been in my mind before I even thought about getting recruited,” he said. “I was like, if I have a chance to leave Mississippi, I’ll leave.”

While he hasn’t yet seen Clemson for himself, Dean says the Tigers are definitely in the race.

“I mean, Clemson is in the mix,” he said. “They’re already in the mix. I just need to get down there and see how I feel down there.”

Dean named Florida, Florida State and Texas A&M as other schools he wants to visit besides Clemson. So far this year, he has been to Alabama, Ole Miss, Michigan State, LSU and Georgia.

Of the out-of-state schools, Dean estimates he has been to Alabama and LSU more than anywhere else and said he has the closest relationship with coaches at Auburn and Georgia.

Dean is ranked as the No. 1 prospect in Mississippi, No. 2 inside linebacker and No. 25 overall prospect in the 2019 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.