Four-Star Safety heading into Elite Junior Day visit: "Why not Clemson?"

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is traveling often during the contact period. Recently, one of his stops was at Monroe High in Monroe, NC, to visit junior Jordan Young‍.

Young, a consensus top 3 athlete in the 2025 class, according to 247Sports, ESPN, and On3, received an offer from Clemson on June 23 and returned to campus on Sept. 23 for the Florida State game.

On each trip to the Upstate, Young, a 6’1, 175-pound safety, was accompanied by his mom, Nikki, as his father, Derek, was absent due to his career in the U.S. Army. 

Derek and Nikki were both at Monroe High on last Thursday to sit with Swinney and co-defensive coordinator/safety coach Mickey Conn, and they were asked to attend by the coaches. 

Derek was particularly struck by the unique approach of the Tigers' coaching staff.

"Coach Conn texted me a couple of days before and asked us to meet him and Coach Swinney at the school. It was pretty cool," Derek said, "No other coaches had ever asked us to join them at the school before."

Derek, a U.S. Army Capt. who has spent most of his life serving the country, is no stranger to having passion, pride, and devotion when it comes to his career. His experience and patriotism allows him to recognize those traits in others, and he felt them as he met with Swinney in Monroe head coach Johnny Sowell's office. 

"I realize the passion he has for the game and Clemson," stated Derek of the two-time national championship coach. "I saw how prideful he is when he talks about the program; you can tell how much he loves it and his devotion to it." 

Unlike his father, Jordan had familiarity with Swinney and Conn, so after his third face-to-face interaction with the coaching staff, Young sent out a tweet on X to thank them for visiting him at school, "I appreciate Coach Swinney and his staff stopping by to see me and my family this afternoon!" 

Young also told us what stood out to him from the meeting.

“Clemson is a special place and one that has like a 99% graduation rate from the football team,” noted Young, who carries a 3.8 GPA.

The program set a record this past season for Graduation Success Rate (GSR) with 99% for the football program, the highest score for any Power Five football program since the 2018-19 release, and the highest ever recorded among public Power Five football programs in the 19 years the NCAA has tracked the metric.

“It's hard to not be successful at Clemson,” continued Young. “It's a very great place to be and a very great place to be a part of.”

Clemson's Elite Junior Day will be held this weekend, and Young is set to join other 2025 prospects and the eight Tiger commits on campus. 

He recently attended South Carolina's Junior Day on Jan. 20 and has trips to Alabama and FSU on the horizon.

The Tigers, Alabama, FSU, and South Carolina are all on his list of top schools, along with LSU, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas, and USC.

So why is it important for Young to take a third visit to Tiger Town?

“Everyone wants to be able to have the opportunity to go to Clemson," he explained. "I'm fortunate enough and blessed to be one of those people. So, I'm not taking the opportunity for granted. Plus, it is right down the road. So why not? Why not Clemson?”

The Big 22 Player of the Year (given to the top player in the Charlotte area) and All-UCHFS First Team member also said a visit for Junior Day gives him an opportunity to build a stronger connection with the coaches, the program, and to see how he fits into the defensive system. 

Young had a phenomenal junior year, finishing with 34 receptions for 812 yards and eight touchdowns as a receiver on offense and 68 tackles with four recovered fumbles (each returned for touchdowns) from his safety position on defense.