CLEMSON – At one point in the 2025 recruiting cycle, Clemson looked like it was on track to sign one of its best recruiting classes in quite some time, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

Heading into the month of August, the Tigers were firmly entrenched in the Top 10 of the recruiting rankings, with much of the class being bolstered by some bigtime defensive prospects that were committed.

Then in late August, 4-star DE Bryce Davis flipped to Duke and he was just the first of several Top 100 talents that would ultimately decommit. Three weeks later, 4-star DL Isaiah Campbell, another Top 100 prospect, backed off his commitment meaning Clemson had lost half of its defensive linemen in the class.

The Tigers were able to hang on to the only 5-star in the class, DL Amare Adams, and also managed to keep 4-star Ari Watford in the fold. However, the two players lost were replaced with 3-star DT Makhi Williams-Lee. While Williams-Lee looks like a solid pickup and is undoubtedly a little undervalued by the recruiting services, he can’t replace the loss of two of the Top 100 players in the class.

Not only was the defensive line ravaged, so was the secondary. In fact, the Tigers lost every defensive back. Both safeties, 4-stars Tae Harris and Jordan Young, decommitted and signed elsewhere. Young was committed less than a month. Clemson was only planning to take one corner and landed 4-star Graceson Littleton. He also defected. Losing Harris and Littleton meant losing two more players that were ranked inside of the Top 100.

Littleton wasn’t replaced at all, and those two safeties were replaced by 3-star Jakarrion Kenan. The in-state talent out of Marlboro County was a late addition, announcing for the Tigers on signing day.

The Tigers also lost 4-star QB Blake Hebert to Notre Dame. To the staff’s credit, Hebert was replaced when 3-star QB Chris Denson was flipped last week. Although, once again, it’s a player that was rated much lower than the player originally committed.

Fortunately, Clemson looks to be in a pretty good spot quarterback-wise, assuming there is no unexpected attrition after the season. Denson’s film is also impressive, so maybe he’s another player that’s been a little overlooked by the services.

In total, Clemson suffered seven decommitments in this class, with four of those being what many would call elite-level talents. Just going off of the recruiting rankings, none of the four were replaced with comparable talent. While the rankings have been proven many times over that they are not the be all, end all, a class that at one time looked like it was going to have 18-21 players, now has just 15.

That means there are still some needs that need to be met. The transfer portal opens next week and it sounds like the staff will try and go that route to address multiple positions. So the book isn’t quite closed on the 2025 class just yet. We will have to wait until after the February signing day to render a true verdict.

To be fair, while the class doesn’t rank inside of the Top 25 currently, that is because of its size. If you are looking at the quality of the class without taking quantity into account, it ranks No. 14 in the 247 Composite in average rating per recruit. There is talent in the class. The problem is there’s just not enough.

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