Clemson can pull elite talent out of North Carolina

CLEMSON — Most people don’t think of North Carolina as a super fertile recruiting ground, but this is a state that produces high-quality football players.

In the class of 2020, the state had 19 blue-chip prospects per the 247 Sports Composite, and North Carolina was able to keep 11 of those players home under Mack Brown while NC State only grabbed two. That leaves room for other schools to enter the state and land some premium prospects.

Clemson has recruited the state of North Carolina regularly over the years and has done it very well.

Entering the 2021 season, the Tigers will have eight scholarship players from the Tar Heel State on their roster. Outside of safety Lannden Zanders, each was a blue-chip prospect coming out of high school. When just focusing on the five-stars, Clemson has had a ton of success in North Carolina.

In the class of 2018, the Tigers went into Clemmons (N.C.) West Forsyth High and earned a signature from top-15 edge prospect K.J. Henry. The second-team high school All-American has recorded 60 tackles and 12.5 tackles for loss in his first three seasons with the Tigers and could be ready for a breakout this fall.

In the class of 2020, Clemson went into Charlotte (N.C.) Mallard Creek High and scooped up top-30 linebacker prospect Trenton Simpson. As a true freshman last fall, Simpson recorded 6.5 tackles for loss in just 281 snaps over 12 games. Heading into this season, expectations are high for the sophomore as Simpson could be Clemson’s next great hybrid defender.

Trenton Simpson is primed for a monster season. (Trenton Simpson/Twitter)

This past recruiting period, the Tigers dipped into North Carolina again to land a premium five-star prospect. Notre Dame worked hard at recruiting tailback Will Shipley from the Charlotte suburbs, but the allure of playing for the Tigers was just too much to pass up. Listed as the second-best running back in the 2021 class, Shipley could be a true freshman contributor for the Tigers.

Meanwhile, the Tigers have also had luck recruiting four-star prospects in North Carolina. Redshirt senior Justin Foster became a starter in 2019 after being a top-175 recruit out of Shelby (N.C.) Crest High. Mitchell Mayes is entering year two in the program, and the Raleigh (N.C.) Leesville Road product was a top-150 recruit who could be a valuable rotation piece for the offensive line this year. Payton Page and Zaire Patterson are both true freshmen defensive line players after being four-star prospects in the class of 2021.

In the class of 2022, Travis Shaw is a top-10 defensive line prospect out of Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley High. Clemson appears to be in a good position to pull off another five-star recruiting win as the Tigers continue to raid this bordering state.

Clemson goes into a lot of regions to assemble its roster. However, North Carolina has proven to be a very fertile area for the program to get elite talent from. Do not expect that to slow down anytime soon as more recruiting battles are certain to happen between the Tigers and the North Carolina Tar Heels.