The courtship between Clemson and Blake Hebert may have been short, but when you know, you know. And in this case, both parties just knew.
After missing on multiple quarterback targets in the 2024 class, the Tigers decided to move on and go all in on 2025. During the spring evaluation period, offensive coordinator Garrett Riley went up to Massachusetts to watch Hebert throw, very much liking what he saw.
"Coach Riley came to my high school in the spring, early spring, he came up to just watch me throw," Hebert told All Clemson Tigers. "And then we stayed in touch ever since then obviously on the phone. But just before that, probably, I got on the phone with him. He reached out to my coach. Actually, Tajh Boyd reached out to my coach. We connected that way over the phone, and they came up and just kept that connection going."
Hebert then visited Clemson on June 1, participating in Dabo Swinney's high school camp. After once again wowing the coaching staff with an impressive workout, Hebert left town with an offer and was officially one of the Tigers' top two quarterback targets. Fifteen days later, the 4-star signal-caller announced a commitment to Clemson.
"When I was there, it kind of felt like home," Hebert said. "I had a couple of visits afterwards and those were great visits, but I was really trying to compare everything to Clemson. So that's how I kind of knew that was the place."
Despite the quick courtship, Hebert did his due diligence. After visiting Clemson, Hebert picked up offers from South Carolina, Auburn, Purdue and Notre Dame. He even visited South Bend. However, Hebert knew where his heart was.
On top of the family-like feel inside of the program that was so attractive, playing for and being developed by Riley was another deciding factor.
"We're definitely like minded," Hebert said. "I like the way he runs his offense and his concepts and everything. How he utilizes the quarterback position. We've been talking on the phone periodically and ever since he came out to the school and camp but yeah, we've been talking a good amount. Our relationship is definitely growing."
Another thing that enticed Hebert was the idea of being the guy the Tigers wanted. Knowing that the staff had decided to just go all in on a quarterback in the 2025 class and that he was that quarterback was very appealing. While Clemson currently has two young underclassmen at the position in Cade Klubnik and Chris Vizzina, by the time Hebert arrives on campus, both would be upperclassmen. Klubnik could possibly have left already.
"That was big for me," Hebert said. "They're taking one 2025 quarterback. They didn't take a 2024. You know, they didn't get any of their 2024 guys, so they're taking one in 2025. I know they have some young guys there right now. They have Cade and CV. He's pretty young. He's a freshman right now. So they're just going all in on 2025, and that's why it was pretty attractive to me."
Now that he has made his decision, Hebert plans to turn his attention towards helping recruit the next members of the 2025 class. Joining forces with 4-star running back commit Gideon Davidson, the two have already started doing their part to help the Tigers sign a special class.
"There's some guys that are on the fence about Clemson or have them in their top group and we're kind of just telling them what we see," Hebert said. "What made us make the decision and hopefully that leads them in the right direction."
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