Clemson, Dabo Swinney beat out Texas for coveted cornerback

9 hrs ago
Clemson came out as the winner in one of its more hotly contested recruiting battles of this season.
The Tigers bested the home-state team Texas Longhorns for coveted cornerback Corian Gipson of Lancaster, Texas, giving Dabo Swinney another significant recruiting victory in that state. Ohio State, Alabama and TCU were also in the running for Gipson.
Gipson made three trips to Clemson, one in March, one for the spring game in April and his official visit the first weekend in June. With each visit, and with each conversation with Swinney and cornerbacks coach Mike Reed, Gipson grew closer to the Clemson program, and despite the distance from home, felt like it was the place to be his new home.
“He’s a great coach,” Gipson said of Swinney earlier this summer. “He’s big on faith and God. That’s what I grew up around in my family. He understands stuff like that. He’s consistent and big on academics. They were telling me some schools worry about the short-term goals and not the long term. And they’ve got commissions and stuff with different businesses and CEOs, so that would be good for me.”
On top of that, Gipson really likes how Clemson plays defense and how Reed deploys his cornerbacks.
“They are an aggressive defense, and he was telling me that I play corner and they go man a lot, and that’s just me,” Gipson said. “Coach Reed is experienced at putting DBs in the league. He’s going on being there 11 years, so that’s consistent. He’s not going to sugarcoat things. He’s going to tell you how it is. Just work hard and play ball.”
Gipson is the third cornerback commitment for the 2024 class and the 17th overall in a class that figures to top off at around 20 at this point.