2021 DE Brayden Wood (6-2 252) of Boulder, CO, despite being so far away, has made a handful of trips to Clemson. Part of the reason for that is that his brother is a pitcher at Furman, so visits to Greenville have included stops in Pickens County. And another reason is that Wood has high interest in the Tigers, and they like him as well. But, he hasn’t been offered and he hopes to resolve that in a June camp.

Wood’s most recent visit to Clemson was earlier this spring and he had the opportunity to meet up with defensive line coach Todd Bates.

“Coach Bates told me to keep grinding as a player and keep working,” Wood said. “That was hands down the best visit I’ve had so far. I was able to sit down with Coach Bates and my family, and we went over what Clemson can offer me and what they can do to make an impact on my future. We also had a great conversation with Coach (Brent) Venables – we have a lot of mutual friends from when he was at Kansas State and we were able to open up about my life and his life.”

Wood also got the chance to check out the academic side of the campus and he found that to his liking as well.

“I got a good feel for their business program, which is what I want to do when I get to college,” Wood said. “I saw where they are getting a new $80 million business building, which should be done by the time I get there.”

That last visit in February left Clemson in a good spot with Wood.

“Clemson is easily going to be one of my top schools,” he said. “The visit was an eye-opener to me. I want to get the recruiting process over as soon as possible, so I’ll talk to my family and pray about it.”

Wood has seen several other programs including Nebraska, Michigan, Stanford, Colorado, Southern Cal, Duke and North Carolina. He also plans to visit Cal and Stanford. His offer list right now consists of Missouri, Colorado State, Syracuse, Texas Tech and Arizona State.