Clemson signee has a unique background: He didn’t play high school football

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney turned to a familiar family for another piece of his recruiting class Wednesday. The Tigers added kicker Tanner Tessmann of Birmingham, Alabama to the group.

Tessmann is the son of P.J. Tessmann, who is the director of the Dabo Swinney All-In Team Foundation. He’s also an accomplished soccer player and plans to play both soccer and football at Clemson.

Tessmann did not play high school football, the first signee ever by Swinney who hasn’t done so, according to Clemson. But he’s considered a top-25 soccer player nationally. Since he will also play football, NCAA rules mandate that he count as a football signee.

“Kind of a unique situation,” Swinney said Wednesday afternoon. “I described him as a Trevor Lawrence or Deshaun Watson for soccer... It just so happens that I’m probably the only guy on the planet that knows how talented he is as a kicker, because I’ve known him my whole life.”

Swinney added that Tigers soccer coach Mike Noonan and the rest of the soccer staff were: “doing cartwheels all across campus” after Tessmann signed.

Tessmann was with the United States Under-20 Men’s National soccer team during their most recent training camp this past September in Slovenia and is expected to compete for a spot on the U.S. 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup team.

Swinney believes Tessmann is athletic enough to not only play multiple sports but also multiple positions for the Tigers.

“He’s not just a kicker. This guy could probably be a scholarship receiver, a scholarship safety... Easily could play D-1 college basketball,” Swinney said. “I mean he is a special athlete. Just one of the best I’ve ever seen, to be honest with you. Soccer is getting something special, but that’s also gonna allow us to have another two-sport guy in our program. And man is he gifted.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 10:34 AM.