Before Clemson began spring practice last week, highly touted true freshman defensive tackle Amare Adams drew high praise — and a couple of lofty comparisons – from head coach Dabo Swinney.

Adams has only been on campus for a brief time after enrolling early in January, but the former five-star recruit has already made a major impression on his new defensive coordinator as well.

Tom Allen met with the media Wednesday and was asked what stands out to him about the Tigers’ freshmen class of defenders.

Allen, who took over as Clemson’s defensive coordinator in January, quickly pointed to Adams when answering the aforementioned question.

“Amare, to me, he’s the biggest one that stands out,” Allen said. “I just think that he’s very, very unique in regards to just not many guys can walk into a college of this caliber and our standard of performance on gameday and physically stick out –like, ‘Hey, who’s that guy?’”

A product of South Florence High School, Adams was ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the state of South Carolina by multiple recruiting services including 247Sports, which also billed him as the second-best defensive lineman nationally and the No. 7 overall prospect in the country for the 2025 recruiting class.

When he signed with Clemson during the December early signing period, Adams had collected 250 career tackles, 40 tackles for loss and 14 sacks in his prep career, including 66 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, four sacks and nine quarterback pressures in his senior season prior to the early signing period.

Adams arrived to Tiger Town as a highly decorated blue-chip prospect, but in the early going of his Clemson career, the 6-foot-4, 285-pounder has seemingly been even more impressive than advertised.

“It’s one of those things where even though I knew who he was and met him, when we did our first mat drill workout, I was just like, ‘Man, he’s bigger than I even thought he was,’” Allen said. “And he moves so much better than even watching his high school film. So I was like, ‘This kid’s unbelievable.’ So, he’s really caught your eye.”