Last week, Clemson pulled the trigger on an offer to a top prospect in the class of 2022 with a family tie to the program — Cumming (Ga.) West Forsyth four-star tight end Oscar Delp.

“It felt awesome. It was a great relief,” Delp told The Clemson Insider after receiving the offer. “I’ve been talking with them for a while, and my uncle played there so we’ve got some history. All of his friends and my grandparents’ friends, everyone’s been waiting for that offer and it finally came. So once everyone saw it, everyone was excited and happy. So, it’s really great to be able to tell people I have an offer from them now and just to have an opportunity to go to an amazing school like that.”

Delp (6-5, 220) had an idea that an offer from Clemson was in the cards, and it indeed came to fruition when tight ends coach Danny Pearman informed him of the offer last Wednesday.

“They’ve kind of been giving me hints the past couple weeks and just saying something’s coming soon, just asking me for my transcript and stuff,” Delp said. “So I had a feeling it was coming soon, but I didn’t know when.”

Delp’s uncle, James Chappell, was a wide receiver for the Tigers in the 1990s and was roommates with former starting quarterback and current Clemson quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter.

“He kind of told me that Coach Streeter was talking to him, saying that they were about to make a move soon, just verifying all my stuff, my height and weight, from him,” Delp said of his uncle. “And then (Wednesday) morning I woke up to a text from Coach Pearman asking if I was free to call him, and I had a feeling it was going to be a great call and it was. He just told me that I checked all the boxes for Clemson and was a guy that they’re looking for and that fit their program, and they just wanted to get the ball rolling and they gave me an offer.”

Now that he has an offer from the Tigers in tow, Delp expects his uncle, as well as his grandfather, to stay in his ear about Clemson.

“He loved it there,” Delp said of his uncle. “My grandpa’s a diehard Clemson fan, so they’re definitely going to do some recruiting, pull for me to go to the Tigers. But they’re going to be supportive of me anywhere I go. But he told me it was the best years of his life there and it’s just an amazing school, and I can’t wait to go check it out.”

Delp has visited Clemson once in the past when he participated in the Dabo Swinney Football Camp as a freshman.

“That was right when I started getting recruited,” he said. “I was mainly there just because we had good family ties with Coach Streeter. I was young at the time, but it was just great to get out there and see the campus and meet the coaches.”

South Carolina offered Delp one day after Clemson extended its offer on Dec. 23, joining schools such as Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio State among others on his list of 20-plus college opportunities.

A handful of schools pique Delp’s interest at this point in the process, though he doesn’t plan to narrow down his recruitment until after he is able to make more visits. Right now, recruiting visits remain suspended through at least April 15 due to the ongoing NCAA dead period that was implemented back in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There’s definitely some schools standing out, but I’m not going to close my recruitment at all or shut any schools down,” he said. “Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and USC are just some of the schools that are standing out right now. But I’m really going to wait to cut my list down after April hopefully when the dead period ends so I can get out there and check some schools out.”

Delp, who describes himself as a mismatch at the tight end position, earned Region 6-7A Offensive Player of the Year honors as a junior after recording nine receiving touchdowns and more than 700 yards.

“I’m a fast tight end,” he said. “I like to think of myself as an athlete where you can put me in line, linebackers are to slow to cover me. Flex me out, I’m too big for the corners. I can play anywhere, and once they get the ball in my hands, it’s going to be hard to tackle me. I can make plays in open space, and I specialize in just getting the ball in my hands and running with it and scoring touchdowns.”

Clemson is in a good spot in Delp’s recruitment right now after entering the mix with the offer.

“They’re definitely going to be up there at the top,” he said. “They’re one of the best programs to play football at in the country. The academics are great. What’s going to really make my top schools is getting out there and just getting the overall feel for everything. But right now, I’d say they’re at the top of the pack.”

Delp, a unanimous four-star prospect according to the major recruiting services, is ranked as high as the No. 5 tight end and No. 177 overall prospect in the 2022 class by Rivals.

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