Clemson had a 'special day' from a recruiting standpoint around spring game

Clemson received plenty of good news over the weekend, even before freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence went out and put on a show in the Tigers spring game.

Clemson landed four commitments during a two-day stretch as linebacker Bryton Constantin committed to the Tigers on Friday, before receiver Frank Ladson, quarterback Taisun Phommachanh and safety Lannden Zanders pledged on Saturday.

Ladson is the headliner of the group as he is rated as a five-star prospect and the No. 3 receiver in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Phommachanh, who is a Connecticut native, continues Clemson’s trend of landing top-ranked quarterbacks.

The Tigers signed a five-star quarterback in 2017 in Hunter Johnson, Lawrence was rated as the No. 1 recruit in the country for 2018 and Phommachanh is rated as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the country by 247Sports. The 247Sports Composite rankings have him as the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback.

“Today was a special day; and obviously, we got some good news kind of coming out this morning, but we really build our class kind of towards our junior day in March but really our spring game in April,” Tigers co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “If you get guys here early in February and March and then they come back early for the spring game, it’s an opportunity for them to be able to see what Clemson’s all about.”

Clemson had several other prospects on campus over the weekend, including some of the top recruits for the class of 2019 and 2020.

They were in the stands as an estimated crowd of 55,000 cheered on the Tigers in Death Valley for the final time until September.

Scott believes that the recruits watching in person, as well as the ones watching at home, had to be impressed by what they saw.

“There’s pictures all over the internet and all over the TV of a lot of schools and their spring games are not very well attended,” he said. “I think the passion of our fan base ... there’s recruits out there in California that watched our game today, and I promise you, them and their families were very impressed by what they saw on TV from our fans and the passion that’s here at Clemson.”

The Tigers' 2019 class is currently ranked No. 10 nationally by 247Sports Composite team rankings.

Tigers coach Dabo Swinney, who urged fans to come out in full force for the spring game for weeks leading up to it, was more than pleased with the turnout.

“There were a lot of guys here getting their first experience to Clemson, and to be able to walk into a stadium like that for a spring game, that’s pretty special,” Swinney said. “I really appreciate our fans for giving us that type of environment today. It was awesome.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2018 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Clemson had a 'special day' from a recruiting standpoint around spring game."