For the second consecutive season, Dabo Swinney has gone outside of his program to add to his coaching staff.
After last season it was Garrett Riley, who was brought in to revamp the offense. Now, after another disappointing season, that saw Clemson fail to reach the ACC Championship Game for the second time in three years, Swinney went outside and brought in Matt Luke to coach the OL and Chris Rumph to coach the DEs.
Both bring documented track records of success, with Luke coaching Georgia's OL when they won it all in 2021. While he has been away from the game the past two seasons, that doesn't take anything away from his abilities.
While much of the focus has centered on how he can help the Tigers improve an OL that struggled with consistency, he is also expected to have just as big of an impact on the recruiting trail. And that is something the Tigers are starving for at the moment, as the program has struggled mightily bringing OL for the 2024 recruiting class.
With the early signing period just a couple weeks away, it's a little late for Luke to come in and knock it out of the park with the current recruiting class, but it should be fun watching how things play out with the 2025 class. The Tigers are after some bigtime targets, including 5-star David Sanders (Providence Day, Charlotte, NC) and 4-star Jaylan Beckley (Trinity Christian, Addison, Tx).
Beckley last visited Clemson for camp last summer. Living in Texas, getting to a game this season just was not feasible. He was not able to make it work from a logistics standpoint. However, Beckley told All Clemson Tigers he does plan on visiting for Elite Junior Day in late January, and he is more than excited about the hiring of Luke.
"I think it's an incredible hire," Beckley said. "I was sorry to hear about coach (Thomas) Austin. He is a great coach and a great man and I've really enjoyed getting to know him through this recruiting process with Clemson. I trust that anyone that coach Swinney adds to the Clemson staff will be a man of character and it will be for the betterment of the program overall. So, I'm excited to get to know coach Luke for sure."
2025 DL target Isaiah Campbell (Southern, Durham NC) also told All Clemson Tigers that he plans to be on hand for Elite Junir Day in Janaury.
The Tigers are still waiting on a decision from 2024 OL Elyjah Thurmon (Bradwell, Hinesville, Ga). The 4-star prospect is set to take an official visit to South Carolina this weekend, then will reportedly make his announcement on Monday.
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