Clemson four-star tight end commit Jake Briningstool is off to a strong start in his senior season and will have the opportunity to showcase his talent on a national stage tonight.

Briningstool and his Ravenwood (Brentwood, Tenn.) squad are set to square off against IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) in a game that will be televised on ESPNU at 9 p.m.

Through five games this season, Briningstool (6-6, 215) has racked up more than 300 yards receiving and scored seven touchdowns while helping Ravenwood to a 3-2 record that could easily be 5-0 if the team had caught a few more breaks along the way.

“We’re playing pretty well,” Briningstool told The Clemson Insider. “We’re 3-2 right now, but our two losses are by a combined 14 points. So, we’re right there. We’re close to being 5-0, but it’s just a few plays didn’t go our way. But I think we’ll be good going forward and make a push in the playoffs for sure. This week, we’ve got a good game coming up – we play IMG at home. So, that’ll be fun to play against some good talent and just see how our guys match up.”

As Briningstool goes through his final high school campaign and gets ready to enroll early at Clemson in a few short months, he has been keeping in close touch with his future position coach, tight ends coach Danny Pearman.

“Me and Coach Pearman talk all the time,” Briningstool said. “He’s just excited that they’re playing football. They’re off to a great start with two big wins, and I’ve just been telling him how happy I am to be a part of Clemson and how special the program is and how I can’t wait to get there in January.”

Briningstool is one of several top-100 national prospects in Clemson’s 2021 recruiting class, which is currently ranked as the No. 5 class in the country according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

The Tigers own 15 commitments right now and only have a few available spots in the current cycle, so they are pursuing a small group of top prospects as they try to close out the class in strong fashion.

Right now, their top remaining target on the offensive side of the ball is Fairfax (Va.) Robinson five-star offensive tackle Tristan Leigh.

“We just need to get a big tackle in the class, and I think that would pretty much fill us all the way up,” Briningstool said. “But I think we’re sitting at (No. 5) nationally, and I would take all the guys that we’ve got in the class over anybody. I feel close with the guys that we’ve got, and I’m excited to build our relationship more as we get on campus together. But I think we’ve got some really good players in our class.”

On the defensive side of the ball, one of the top targets left on the board is Austin (Texas) LBJ four-star safety Andrew Mukuba.

Briningstool feels good about where the Tigers stand with Mukuba heading into his upcoming commitment announcement next Thursday, Oct. 1.

“I think we’re doing pretty well with him,” Briningstool said. “The commits, we talk to him pretty regularly. So, I think he’s a pretty good Clemson lean for us and I think it’ll be good to land another safety with some of the other guys on the defensive side of the ball.”

Briningstool, who committed to Clemson on Jan. 26, will enroll at Clemson in January and is stoked to start his career as a Tiger.

“I’m ecstatically excited,” he said. “I can’t wait to get up there and just be around the guys and coaches, and hopefully we get up there and the guys are playing for a national championship. So, I think that would be pretty cool, too.”

Briningstool is ranked as a top-100 prospect in the 2021 class by both Rivals (No. 60 overall) and ESPN (No. 70). ESPN considers him the No. 1 tight end/Y-back in the country, while Rivals tabs him as the No. 3 tight end nationally.

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