Clemson was named Thursday as one of the top five schools with DT Jamaal Jarrett (6-6 340) of Greensboro, NC. He also identified North Carolina, LSU, Georgia and Auburn in his top group. Jarrett visited Clemson April 11th and got his first look inside the program while meeting up with head coach Dabo Swinney, defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin and defensive tackles coach Nick Eason.
“It was great. They started recruiting me a little bit early, towards the end of my junior season. And we just built a relationship from there,” Jarrett said of Clemson. “So going on the visit, I already kind of knew who everyone was, so it was just matching a face to a voice. It was just great. The family base was there. The home feeling was there. And just seeing Coach Swinney, it was great.”
It was during his sit-down meeting with Swinney in his office that Jarrett landed his offer from the Tigers. It was something he thought would happen, but he was relieved to get it nonetheless.
“He sat down, he talked for a little bit, kind of broke the ice. We got to know each other for a little bit,” Jarrett said. “He started talking about what he was doing for the program when he first came and then how they have been consistent and just been doing great throughout the years. And they’re pretty much an SEC program, in my opinion. I believe Clemson is an SEC program or could be an SEC program. He talked to me about the history of Clemson, his academic standards, and just the team bonding, doing what you got to get the team to stay together. And he’s all for Clemson, and that’s what I loved about it. He opened up to me about how he’s going to stay here and how he loves, sleeps, and breathes Clemson. So just seeing that from the head coach just showed me a lot of love. I just know he is going to be here. He’s not going to leave, go to the league or anything. He has a lot of league offers, but he’s staying for Clemson. So, after he expressed that to me, that just showed me that Coach wants to be here for this school or for his program. And that when he offered me, it was like a blessing.”
Jarrett also spoke fondly of Goodwin after meeting him in person for the first time.
“That’s my coach right there,” Jarrett said of Goodwin. “Me and him have the best bond. And it’s me, Coach Eason and Coach Thomas (Austin). That’s pretty much it.”
Jarrett also has visited North Carolina and Georgia. His plan with his recruiting now is to take his official visits and go from there.
“Just knocking out the officials and getting back with my team and just having great senior year, start off a great senior year during the summer for summer conditioning, summer practices,” Jarrett said. “So, I’m just going to knock out my officials so I can be back with my team.”
An interesting sidenote to Jarrett’s top five announcement was a retweet by LB Pup Howard of Jacksonville, who wrote that the two of them might end up playing on the same defense. Clemson and USC have been recruiting Howard.
