OT Mal Waldrep (6-5 295) has been a favored target of Clemson offensive line coach Matt Luke since he joined the Clemson staff, and now Luke has received a favored status from Waldrep who included the Tigers among his top four Friday afternoon. He plans to take official visits to these four and then commit by mid-July at the latest.
Clemson is joined in the group by Alabama, Tennessee and Florida. Among the schools not making the cut were nearby Auburn, Georgia, Colorado, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Central Florida and Missouri. Auburn, however, cannot be totally discounted because of the local connection.
This spring Waldrep made visits to Auburn, Florida and Tennessee to watch practices. He did not make it to Clemson for a spring practice. His last visit there was for a junior day in late January. But the conversations with Luke have been ongoing and insightful for Waldrep.
“I’ve been talking to them every day,” Waldrep said. “I just haven’t had the chance to get back up there for spring. We’ve definitely been in contact talking about how their practices were run, how their spring game went, all that stuff. Talking to me about getting back up there even before the official visit. We’ve been in contact pretty heavy.”
Luke is only recruiting a handful of offensive line prospects for the 2025 class, so Waldrep is aware that he’s a guy the Clemson line coach thinks highly about.
“He sees me as a valuable leader in this class, and he thinks I could really help being the guys together,” Waldrep said. “He thinks that with this class we would have a chance to compete at a high level in the playoffs and possibly win a national championship.”
With the transition at Alabama from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer, there’s certainly a different feel for the Crimson Tide among the top in-state player who have only known one guy in Tuscaloosa over the last fifteen years. Waldrep has checked out the new Crimson Tide with their new coach.
“It’s been interesting to me to see how the players have reacted and adjusted to just new coaching,” Waldrep said. “How they all practice and adjusted to Coach DeBoer, and how he runs everything around there just because it’s so different from what it has been in the past. That’s been pretty interesting to me. I think they are going to be a good team.”
Clemson will get the first official visit from Waldrep on May 31st. Alabama June 7th, Florida June 14th and Tennessee June 21st.
