Friday Night Lights
By: Gavin Oliver August 17, 2019

With the high school football regular season right around the corner, a number of Clemson commitments and targets took the field on Friday night for preseason contests with their respective teams.

Each week throughout the season, The Clemson Insider will keep you posted on the performances of Clemson commits and recruits in their games around the country. In the first edition of our Friday Night Lights feature, we look at how some of the recruits fared in preseason action this week:

As part of our Tour of Champions, The Clemson Insider attended the 2019 Kickoff Classic at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla., to watch five-star Clemson running back commit Demarkcus Bowman. He didn’t disappoint, scoring on touchdown runs of 29 and 2 yards in the first quarter of Lakeland’s 43-20 victory over Osceola Kissimmee.

Bowman wasn’t the only running back commit in Clemson’s 2020 class that saw his team roll to a lopsided scrimmage win Friday. Kobe Pryor of Cedartown (Ga.) posted a couple of rushing touchdowns in his team’s 55-0 rout of Chattooga (Summerville, Ga.).

Last week, Pryor, playing defense, recovered a fumble and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown in Cedartown’s scrimmage win against Morrow (Ga.).

In other action Friday, Clemson safety commit Tyler Venables tossed touchdown passes of 3, 6 and 10 yards while playing quarterback for Daniel (Central, S.C.), though the Lions lost to Brookland-Cayce (Cayce, S.C.) by a score a 26-21 in a jamboree in Easley, S.C.

Meanwhile, five-star cornerback commit Fred Davis helped Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Fla.) to a 44-6 blowout of Terry Parker (Jacksonville). Davis nearly broke off a punt-return touchdown but was tackled from behind after picking up 27 yards.

Marietta (Ga.) five-star Arik Gilbert, one of Clemson’s few remaining targets in the 2020 class, showed Friday night why he is considered the nation’s top tight end, racking up six catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the first half of his team’s 42-7 scrimmage victory over Tucker (Ga.)

One of Clemson’s 2021 targets, Loganville (Ga.) Grayson running back Phil Mafah, scored the first touchdown in his team’s 31-19 scrimmage win against five-star Clemson commit Myles Murphy’s Hillgrove (Powder Springs, Ga.) squad.

Most of Clemson’s commits will hit the field again next Friday to open the 2019 regular season. Stay tuned to TCI each week for the latest on their performances.

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