With the 2020 recruiting cycle in the books, Clemson and other schools across the country can now turn more of their attention to prospects in the class of 2021.
In our Looking Ahead series, The Clemson Insider takes a position-by-position look at the Tigers’ top targets in the 2021 class. In this article, we focus on defensive tackles:
Clemson does not currently have a commitment from a defensive tackle but is looking to take one in the 2021 class. The Tigers’ bulls-eyed target is Greensboro (N.C.) Dudley five-star Payton Page, the No. 2 DT and No. 7 overall prospect in the country according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Page (6-4, 315) received an offer from Clemson last June and was recently told by the Tigers that he is the only defensive tackle in the 2021 class they’re pursuing right now.
Clemson has gotten Page on campus several times, most recently for its elite junior day on Jan. 25. He also attended the Texas A&M and Wake Forest games at Death Valley this past season.
During the elite junior day function, Page bonded with Clemson defensive end commit Korey Foreman, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2021 class. Page told TCI afterward that he and Foreman hit it off and had conversations about teaming up together with the Tigers.
“We just had fun,” Page said. “We made it even better. He told me we could play together, stuff like that.”
Last month, Page announced a top five of Clemson, LSU, North Carolina, Oregon and Tennessee. He plans to make his decision before his upcoming senior season.
North Carolina appears to be Clemson’s chief competition at this point, and the Tar Heels played host to Page for their junior day on Feb. 1. But the Tigers look like the team to beat coming off his latest visit to Tigertown.
Looking ahead to the 2022 class, one big name to know at defensive tackle is Dallas (Texas) Skyline’s Keithian “Big Bear” Alexander.
Alexander (6-4, 340) collected offers from Michigan, Southern Cal, Auburn and Missouri in January to go with previous offers from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M among others.
Clemson has not yet started offering 2022 prospects, but Alexander is a candidate to eventually earn an offer from the Tigers. He is high on Clemson and visited campus to participate in the Dabo Swinney Camp last summer.
TCI’s previous Looking Ahead articles:
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