STRecruiting: 2028 Clemson and South Carolina target Brendan Hall continues to make his rounds, with Tigers and Gamecocks two of the top contenders

2028 OL Brendan Hall (6-7 280) of Charlotte is the son of former Clemson offensive lineman Les Hall. As such, Clemson will always be in play as part of his recruitment. But Hall hasn’t let his family ties to the Tigers diminish his desire to look closely at other opportunities, including programs like South Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Ohio State, Penn State, and others.

Hall is coming off of a visit to Tennessee for the Alabama game. He has also been to games at Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Clemson. He will be at North Carolina on Saturday for the Syracuse game, and he plans to visit USC for the Texas A&M game. He also plans to get to Georgia for a game and make a return visit to Clemson for the Palmetto Bowl.

The Tigers are taking nothing for granted with Hall. Offensive line coaches Matt Luke and Carson Cramer are doing the heavy lifting.

“Coach Cramer and Coach Luke have done absolutely amazing jobs,” Hall said. “They’re fantastic, and they keep reminding me every day they’re not recruiting me because of my history, but they’re recruiting me because of who I am as a person and a player, so that’s always been reassuring. Getting opportunities because of your past doesn’t always make you feel the best, but knowing that I’ve done everything I can to have earned it truly makes me feel great. It truly makes the person feel great. They’ve checked in. They send texts every day. I mean, it’s been awesome. They’ve been great with communication.”

Hall has been to many Clemson games as a fan, but his visit this season for the Georgia Southern game was his first as a recruit. And that was a different experience.

“I’m so used to sitting in the stands and not truly seeing the coaching, like truly seeing behind the scenes,” Hall said. “Being able to do that was just awesome. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve just been like, how awesome would it be to experience this one day? And well, here I am being able to, which is crazy to me. I saw how coaches operate behind the scenes, which I loved seeing. You get to see how the coaches feel, what they talk about, how they hold themselves before a game. What do they think about? It’s only something we can dream of really. And it just blows my mind that now it’s become a reality because I look up to my dad. He’s been my hero forever. He’s been my idol. He’s been everything ever since I was a little kid. And being able to imitate that, being able to follow that, it’s absurd.”

Hall is also giving South Carolina a fair chance. Like Clemson, he has attended Gamecock camps and games before, but next month he’ll be back in Columbia as a recruit. USC offensive line coaches Randy Clements and Jason Smith have been clear with him about their feelings.

“They have let me know that I’m a priority, and they’ve been doing a great job,” Hall said. “They send me graphics, mail. They’ve been calling me. Coach (Sam) Serbay has done an outstanding job at communicating and talking to me every day, sending motivational texts. They’ve let me know I’m a priority, and they’ve done a fantastic job.”

Hall has kept his eyes on the Gamecocks as well, and the win at Florida a couple of weeks ago spoke volumes to him about where Shane Beamer is taking the program.

“Not so much the win, but the way they bounced back,” Hall said. “How does a team bounce back from a rough season? They had the unfortunate losses to Kentucky and Mississippi State. I’m kind of going through it in high school. There’s probably a couple of games that we should have won, but we didn’t. I know how it feels. You just feel so bummed. But being able to go out there and put up like 45 (38) on Florida, the team that blew Ole Miss out- I mean, they’ve had a crazy season. But the way they bounced back, it truly stands out.”

Along with the Tigers and Gamecocks, Hall cited Tennessee, Ohio State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Penn State as standing out to him at this point as he works his way towards a decision.

“I have a timeline,” he said. “When I take all of these game day visits, after that, I want to drop an 8 to 10, 8 to 12 (list of ) schools that I have interest in. Then I want to take all my junior day visits and OVs. Then I’m going to drop a final four. And then I’ll hopefully try to commit before the season.”