He’s one of the best recruits in the Carolinas. Why Clemson football’s a top contender

Jonathan Paylor was running down the hill inside Clemson’s Memorial Stadium as part of a football camp last month when his excitement got the better of him.

Mid-sprint in an empty venue, he just … started yelling.

“It was crazy,” Paylor told The State. “I can’t even imagine what the players feel like when the stadium’s full and the band’s playing and everything like that.”

The No. 77 overall recruit in the class of 2024, Paylor admittedly wasn’t too familiar with coach Dabo Swinney’s program before arriving on campus for a showcase.

But after scorching the competition, working closely with wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham and netting a scholarship offer one day later, the rising junior is keen on a return trip so he can get the “full experience” of a game day in Death Valley.

He also sees the Tigers as a major player in his recruitment.

Clemson, to borrow one of Paylor’s favorite adjectives, is “smooth.”

It’s also an intriguing school for an athlete who combines scintillating slot receiver chops with blue-chip appeal. The Cummings (N.C.) High School star is one of only four players across the Carolinas who rank as 247Sports Composite top 100 recruits.

“They said they needed a player like me,” the 16-year-old Paylor said.

A four-star recruit, the No. 2 player in North Carolina and the No. 10 athlete in his class, Paylor held offers from double-digit Power Five programs including Georgia, LSU, Michigan State, UNC and South Carolina entering this summer.

Alabama and Clemson entering the fray in June have only elevated his status as a national recruit, said Bernard Pinnix, Paylor’s guardian and personal trainer.

“After they called, I told him: ‘If there’s been any questions about your ability and your skill set, those questions have been put to rest,’” Pinnix said. “They have a very high opinion of you.”

And Paylor, who’s 5-foot-10 and 178 pounds, has met those lofty expectations so far at Cummings High School in Burlington, an hour west of Raleigh.

He’s a threat to score any time he touches the ball out of a hybrid running back-wide receiver position reminiscent of Deebo Samuel with the San Francisco 49ers or a young Percy Harvin with the Florida Gators or Minnesota Vikings.

Among his statistical feats:

• In 18 career games for Cummings, Paylor has scored 28 touchdowns.

• He’s averaging 160.0 total yards per game, 14.0 yards per touch (well over a first down) and 1.6 touchdowns per game.

• He had 438 rushing yards, 851 receiving yards and 16 total touchdowns during a shortened seven-game freshman year.

• In a full 11-game sophomore season, he upped those totals to 655 rushing yards and 936 receiving yards and scored 12 times.

• He has twice caught four touchdown passes in a single game and has gone over 170 total yards in nine of 18 career games (and over 200 total yards four times).

• Also a track and field star, he won individual titles in 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter dashes and earned MVP honors at May’s state championship meet.

Those numbers made Paylor a priority target during Clemson’s June 12 Dabo Swinney Camp. Tigers wide receivers coach Grisham “grabbed me right away and put me first in line for drills,” Paylor said. “He wanted me to set the example for other campers.”

Considering how he performed in one-on-ones, that was a smart move.

Recalled Paylor, laughing: “Towards the end it was the best DBs versus the best receivers, so I went up to coach Swinney and asked: ‘What routes you want, coach?’ He was calling them out, and I was running them and still getting the ball.”

Grisham, his primary recruiter, phoned with a scholarship offer the next day, adding an immediate boost to what had been a routine lifeguarding shift for Paylor at his community pool.

Though he’s listed as an athlete on 247Sports and plays a bit of safety for Cummings, Paylor is being primarily recruited by colleges as a slot receiver.

That’s where Clemson — which has only offered one other wide receiver in the 2024 class, per 247Sports — wants him to play.

Among other things that stood out about Clemson, per Paylor and Pinnix: their national stature, their knack for sending receivers to the NFL (11 since 2013) and their openness to Paylor playing two sports in college.

Continuing his track and field career at the next level is very important to Paylor, he said. Clemson has also discussed baseball as a second sport option (he plays center field).

“Just because they didn’t win the championship (in 2021), that doesn’t matter,” Pinnix said. “They’re still Clemson. Jon saw that when he went down there.”

Paylor counts Clemson as one of the schools standing out in his recruitment alongside “top dog” Alabama, N.C. State, UNC and South Carolina.

That makes the Tigers a near-lock for Paylor’s top 15 schools list, which he’s planning to release ahead of his Aug. 19 season opener.

From there, it’ll be a battle to make Paylor’s next cut and secure one of his five coveted official visits that can start next summer. But the Tigers, he said, are in a good spot for future shortlists.

“With Clemson and how they do things with their receivers and how they’re doing with NIL, they’re working toward the top,” he said.