Two of Clemson’s primary secondary targets, SAF Sherrod Covil (6-0 185) of Chesapeake, VA, and CB Toriano Pride (5-11 172) of St. Louis, will make their college commitment announcements Thursday and Friday respectively. Each tweeted plans today. Both were at Clemson last weekend for the Elite Retreat.
Covil attends IMG Academy in Florida. He is rated a four-star prospect and ranked the #11 safety nationally in the 247Sports Composite. This month he also saw Penn State, Ohio State and Notre Dame along with Clemson. The weekend with the Tigers made a huge impression.
“It was amazing, and the family atmosphere made it even better,” Covil said. “The players had a brotherhood and it was genuine. They even talked about how sometimes it isn’t all good and never sugarcoating how it is at Clemson. I’ve become close to (Keon) Sabb as we have been in the same place twice and really got to know each other well. We’ve started to talk about the possibility of playing together, along with others that were there. I had a relationship with Malcolm Greene already and he was on the player panel. They kept it real and he talked about his short journey as a Tiger. His roommate was also on the panel and they bickered a bit, but they said at the end of the day, they are best friends and that’s his brother. Real recognize real.”
Covil spent a lot of his time with Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables and safeties coach Mickey Conn. He took away a lot Clemson positivity from those conversations.
“They were just showing all of us what Clemson was about, not selling anything,” Covil said. “I loved Coach (Brent) Venables’ energy. I loved how locked in Coach Conn was on the small details in what could have been the difference in a couple of games. He told me he learned, which meant he still doesn’t know it all. And those words showed more of the human factor that makes Clemson special to me. They were still recruiting us all and showing us exactly what Clemson is, family. We got to meet their families and spent time now only with the coaches, but their wives and children as well.”
Pride is rated a four-star prospect and ranked the #23 cornerback nationally. Pride, who has family in Greenville, also visited Clemson in April.
“I’ve been to Clemson like three times, so all of my boxes are checked really,” Pride said in May. “I kind of already know how they move and how their personalities are. I like how they run their program and I like how they’re family oriented. I really like coach (Mike) Reed and coach (Brent) Venables. They can put me everywhere in the secondary because I’m dynamic. And if I go in and grind, there’s a good chance of playing early.”
Other Notes:
2023 OT Monroe Freeling of Oceanside Collegiate was offered by Stanford.
2023 QB Will Prichard (6-3 195) of West Palm Beach, FL is taking a visit to USC today.
RHP Noah Hall is transferring to USC from Appalachian State. In his career, he appeared in 28 games for the Mountaineers with five starts. He was 7-1 with a 3.35 ERA and 4 saves. Teams hit .207 against him.
