Clemson tight end target sets decision date with slew of big offers

Emerald High School (Greenwood) tight end Luke Deal set May 25 for his commitment announcement date, and he's sticking to it even though he doesn't yet know which school he will pick.

Deal said he will announce the decision sometime between 7-8:30 p.m. Friday night at a gathering with family and friends. Clemson, Notre Dame, Auburn, Michigan and N.C. State remain under consideration. Ohio State was cut from his final list.

Deal took official visits to each of his finalists except Clemson. Having grown up a Tiger fan, he's been there plenty of times for games. And as a Clemson recruiting target, he's been there multiple times to see that side of things. He made one final pre-decision visit to Clemson last Friday.

"Since I didn't do an official there, I kind of wanted to see myself in a film session with Coach Pearman," Deal said. "We got to talk a lot of Xs and Os and what they would do with me and how they've used tight ends in the past. That's what I was looking for, so that's good, that's what I saw. That's really the only thing I was missing. I felt like I needed to go back and check that out."

Recruiters from all his contenders, except Clemson, will make final in-person pitches this week. Clemson has already used its two visits. N.C. State was in Monday. Auburn and Notre Dame will be in Tuesday. Michigan is in Thursday. And he's also expecting Ohio State to come back through. After these meetings, it will be time for Deal to make the tough call.

"It is, but this is what it's all been leading up to," Deal said. "I've been thinking about it, praying about it, talking to my family about it. I feel I'll be ready by Friday. Whatever I do, whatever I decide is going to be the best decision because it's going to be the one that I choose and I'm not going to go back on it. I'm going to look straight ahead."

And Deal said the deciding factors will come down to one simple point for him.

"Overall fit, not just football fit and culture with the staff, with the school itself," Deal said. "I just want to be somewhere where I will thrive and improve the next three to four years."

Notes:

▪ Clemson made the top five for Honolulu defensive lineman Faatui Tuitele. The other four on the list are Ohio State, Texas, Washington and Alabama.

▪ Clemson linebacker target Tyler Rudolph committed to Penn State.

▪ Clemson linebacker target Brandon Smith committed to Penn State.

This story was originally published May 22, 2018 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Clemson tight end target sets decision date with slew of big offers."