Clemson has moved quickly up the board with CB Toriano Pride (5-11 172) of St. Louis since offering him a few months ago. He made his second visit to campus Saturday, this time with his family, to take in the spring game. Clemson is right in the mix with Georgia, Ohio State and Alabama. The weekend visit was another positive check mark for the Tigers.
“It went really good. I loved the atmosphere and all the people treated me like family, some of the other recruits and commits, that felt really good,” Pride said. “I loved the weather down there. They looked really good for their spring game, they played well. I just got to build a lot of relationships with some of the commits and recruits.”
Pride first visited Clemson in February with his seven on seven team which had played in Myrtle Beach. On that trip he got to walk around the campus but, of course, couldn’t go inside the athletic facilities, including Death Valley, due to the NCAA Dead Period. So, Saturday was the first time in person he’s gotten to see where the Tigers play.
“It was live. I didn’t know the stadium was that big,” Pride said. “I was just really surprised. I didn’t think it was that big on TV. That was a big surprise.”
Again, with the dead period still in place, Pride wasn’t allowed to meet with any of the Clemson coaches. But they knew he was there. Corners coach Mike Reed has built a strong relationship with Pride and no doubt this visit enhanced Clemson’s position with him.
“That’s the only school I’ve seen right now, so I’m going to say yeah as of right now,” Pride said. “Clemson is in a really good spot with me. I’ve built a lot of relationships with current players, so I got to see it from a perspective of people on the team.”
Pride said he will return to Clemson for a third time for their Elite Retreat weekend June 11th. Again, that will be a personal visit for him. He has an official visit set with Ohio State the weekend prior. He also plans to set visits with Alabama and Georgia.
Other notes:
- Clemson is in the top 8 with SAF Azareyeh Thomas of Niceville, FL. The others are Florida, LSU, Miami, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Louisville.
- USC made the cut from 15 to 12 with 5-star SAF Kamari Wilson of IMG Academy. Clemson was in his top 15 but did not make the cut. The others on his new list are Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi State, Texas, Auburn, Texas A&M, Miami, Georgia, Florida, USF and Florida State.
- TE Tyrus Washington of Leesburg, GA added USC to his short list which has gone from 6 to 7 teams. The others are Ole Miss, South Florida, Arkansas, UCF, Cincinnati and Kansas State.
- CB Jerrod Cameron (5-9 160) of Ft. Lauderdale committed to Coastal Carolina.
- Charlotte offered ATH Zan Dunham of Chester.
- USC offered 6-5 Tyrell Ward of Dematha Catholic in Hyattsville, MD. Maryland also offered on Sunday. He also has offers from Indiana, Seton Hall, George Mason, Wake Forest, Georgetown, Georgia and LSU.
