Clemson stays hot on the trail, receives commitment from Kylon Griffin

With just over a week to go until National Signing Day, Clemson landed a key target on Tuesday.

Montgomery (Alabama) defensive back Kylon Griffin announced this morning that he would be joining the Tigers at the next level. This comes just a couple of days after taking an official visit to Clemson.

Griffin, a one-time Mississippi State commit, was also visited by multiple members of the staff earlier this week. Last week, he had dinner with Mickey Conn, Mike Reed, and Wesley Goodwin.

The Tigers’ consistent efforts paid off here as they’ve landed commitment No. 15 in their 2022 class. Griffin joins early enrollee Sherrod Covil Jr. as the only other safety in Clemson’s class.

A three-star recruit, Griffin is labeled as a top-70 safety in this recruiting cycle and is the No. 28 senior prospect in Alabama.

Clemson did not have an easy path to landing Griffin

Interestingly enough, Griffin did not even have the Tigers as an option in his recruitment before January. Mickey Conn extended an offer to Griffin on Jan. 4, so Clemson had their work cut out for them here.

One of their toughest competitors was Nebraska, which offered Griffin on Feb. 24, 2021. On top of having a longstanding relationship with Griffin, the Cornhuskers played host to him for an official visit from Jan. 14-16.

Griffin told On3’s Chad Simmons that the Nebraska visit exceeded his expectations.

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Clemson and Nebraska were finalists for Griffin, who also had Southern Cal in his top three. Griffin was actually supposed to take an official to the Trojans next weekend.

We bring all of this up to say that this wasn’t a road without obstacles for Clemson. They had to deal with a Nebraska staff that was in touch with Griffin for a long time, and USC is one of the hottest programs on the trail.

The Tigers had to quickly turn around at safety following the departure of Keon Sabb from the class, and it is hard to think of a better late find than Griffin.

So far this month, Clemson has secured commitments from three of their seven official visitors. One of those is Griffin, with Cole Turner and Myles Oliver being the other two.

The other official visitors that Dabo Swinney’s staff has hosted on campus this month are Andrew Paul, Caden Story, Jahiem Lawson, and Kobe McCloud. They’ll roll out the red carpet for four-star linebacker T.J. Dudley next weekend for an official.

It’s very possible that Clemson ends up going eight-for-eight on official visitors in January, which would be an incredible feat.