Former NFL star reveals he was ‘very close’ to committing to Clemson football
A.J. Green loved his experience playing college football at Georgia.
Almost 20 years removed from his high school recruitment, though, the South Carolina native says an in-state program was a close second choice to the Bulldogs.
“If I don’t go to Georgia, I’m going to Clemson,” Green said he remembers thinking during his time at Summerville (SC) High School, where he was a five-star recruit.
Green, 37, added that his decision between UGA and Clemson was “very close.”
“I’d say it was 60-40,” Green said Thursday from Hotel Hartness in Greenville, where he was one of five inductees into the 2025 South Carolina Football Hall of Fame class.
Clemson, like most college football programs, is no stranger to recruiting “what ifs.” Early in coach Dabo Swinney’s tenure, future NFL players Robert Nkemdiche (Ole Miss) and Dalvin Cook (Florida State) were both verbally committed to the Tigers. Household names Rob Gronkowski (Arizona) and Marcus Lattimore (South Carolina) have also talked about their one-time interest in the Tigers.
Considering his national status, Green’s recruitment was relatively undramatic. Early in his high school career at Summerville, he attended a camp in Athens and said he was immediately drawn to Mark Richt, UGA’s coach from 2001-15.
Heading into his junior year, The State quoted Green as calling Georgia his “dream” school. He publicly committed to UGA in October 2006 while on campus for a football game and told reporters he’d silently commmited to Richt that July.
Although he never backed off that pledge and locked in his commitment to Georgia on National Signing Day 2008, Green recalls Clemson “was my second choice.”
“I know people hated that,” he said, laughing. “But it was Georgia, then Clemson.”
Why AJ Green left SC for college football
When Green was in high school at Summerville, Tommy Bowden was Clemson’s football coach and Swinney was the team’s wide receivers coach. Green didn’t remember the specifics of his conversations with Clemson, but he held the Tigers in high regard. They were a firm No. 2 school for him behind Georgia, despite the fact he hadn’t yet officially visited campus.
Part of the reason Green’s recruitment never dramatically progressed with Clemson — or South Carolina, for that matter — was because he committed to UGA so early.
Current South Carolina coach Shane Beamer, an assistant under Steve Spurrier from 2007-10, once identified Green as one of the recruits that got away from the Gamecocks. In-state recruits like Alshon Jeffery, Stephon Gilmore, Connor Shaw and Jadeveon Clowney fueled a “great run”, he said.
“But just imagine if we had been able to get Robert Quinn and A.J. Green to stay here at South Carolina, how good that would have been,” Beamer said in a 2023 interview on the “Next Up with Adam Breneman” podcast.
Had he signed with Clemson, Green would’ve played the first half of his 2008 freshman season under Bowden and the remainder of his career under Swinney, who was promoted to Clemson’s interim coach after Bowden was fired midyear.
Green’s Clemson teammates would’ve included star running back/return man C.J. Spiller, and he would’ve caught passes from QBs Cullen Harper and Kyle Parker.
Instead, Green put together an excellent career in the SEC at Georgia, where he still ranks among the Bulldogs’ top five in career catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns despite only playing three seasons in Athens.
“Coach Richt always preached about being a better man after football,” Green said of committing to UGA. “I knew I was a great football player, but I wanted to build my character to be a better man, to be a better husband.”
AJ Green on South Carolina: ‘These are my roots’
The 6-foot-4 outside receiver was the No. 4 overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft and played 11 pro seasons for the Bengals and Cardinals. Green made seven straight Pro Bowls in Cincinnati, had six 1,000-yard seasons and finished his career with 10,514 receiving yards and 70 touchdowns.
He retired from the NFL in February 2023 and said he’s at peace with that decision, despite fielding calls from the Jets and the Seahawks over the years about a potential comeback. Green now lives outside Atlanta with his wife and two sons.
Even though he left South Carolina for college, Green, who’s hosted various community events in his hometown of Summerville, said he loves his home state.
“These are my roots,” Green said. “It started here. So to be recognized by and inducted into the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame is a dream come true.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 11:55 AM.
