Blake Hebert is Garrett Riley's hand-picked quarterback of the future at Clemson.
After watching Hebert throw multiple times last offseason, including at a session of Dabo Swinney's high school camp last summer, Riley liked what he saw.
The 4-star prospect has been committed to the Tigers since shortly after that workout at camp, and since then Hebert has devoted a lot of time to growing his relationship with Clemson's offensive coordinator.
"I mean, we're pretty tight," Hebert told All Clemson Tigers. "He's such a likable guy. Very smart. We've been meeting for a while just going over kind of X's and O's and it makes so much sense what he says is a good thing, obviously, being a quarterback. But just relationship wise, I feel like I can call him and talk to him about anything. So I mean, that's a good thing."
With the hiring of Riley, expectations were high for Clemson's offense entering the 2023 season. However, for various reasons, the Tigers still struggled in certain aspects on that side of the ball.
Entering year two under the direction of Riley, Hebert expects substantial growth out of Clemson's offense in 2024.
"I think the confidence and just comfortability will grow exponentially over the years with this Clemson system," Hebert said. "I think the guys, the players, would probably agree that they had a good year and they want to clean it up. So, I think that motivation and also with just how personable coach Riley is and how he connects with the guys, I think that's going drive them a lot this coming up season."
Hebert will play his senior season at the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut, after missing most of his junior campaign at Central Catholic with a leg injury. As a sophomore, he threw for more than 1,700 yards with 24 TDs to just one interception.
Now, the blue-chip talent is fully recovered and 100% ready to go as the spring nears.
As he went through the recruiting process, Hebert had close to 20 offers in total, with some bigtime programs showing genuine interest. Auburn, South Carolina and Notre Dame all offered after Clemson did. Penn State, Ole Miss and North Carolina all offered, as well.
However, none of those other schools matched what he felt at Clemson, particularly from a culture standpoint.
"Clemson stood out like crazy," he said. "I'm not going to name any names, but I'd gone other places where I just kind of feel like they were there for football. Then they would leave and go back to the dorms and then come back and it was all about football. At Clemson, it's about how are you doing in school. How are you doing off the field and just in life. So that's kind of the biggest difference for me. It's not just about football there. I mean they keep football obviously as a very important part, but it's not that it's always the main, main thing."
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