Swinney, staff are key to Clemson making cut for top signal-caller

Clemson made the cut for five-star, No. 5 overall 2021 recruit Caleb Williams. On Monday, Williams, a dual-threat quarterback from Gonzaga High in Washington, DC, named a top 5 of Clemson, LSU, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Penn State from his list of 22 offers. 

Williams issued a brief statement in his Sports Illustrated Blog on each school. Here's what he said about Clemson: 

"Clemson, jeez, Coach Dabo (Swinney), he's a Christian man. He believes in the man, the higher-up, and that's always good. Look what he's been able to do in the past 10 years with Clemson. They have been a good program for a while, but you look at the last five or six years, what he's done, that's unbeatable. Then you go around their coaching staff, their staff is first class."

On Sept. 7, the 6-foot-1, 209-pound playmaker was on the Clemson campus for an unofficial visit when the No.1 ranked Tigers handled No. 12 Texas A&M 24-10. He was also in town for a second visit in late January for Elite Junior Day. 

Here's a look at visits to the other finalists:

LSU - Last November, he attended the SEC Tigers 50-7 win over the Aggies.

Maryland - Unofficial visit on Jan. 18. 

Oklahoma - Unofficial visit on March 5. 

Penn State - Camped there in June 2019 and had an unofficial visit in December 2019. 

All recruits are temporarily prohibited from having any in-person contact with schools and coaches due to the coronavirus pandemic per the NCAA until April 15, so Williams, like other recruits, is waiting for the dead period to end before planning visits.

Williams is one of three 2021 quarterbacks offered by the Clemson coaching staff. Drake Maye, Myers Park High (NC), recently committed to UNC (March 6) and Eli Stowers, Guyer High (TX) to Texas A&M on July 2, 2019. 

Williams, the top quarterback in the 2021 class, has yet to announce a future commitment date. 

Last season, Williams led Gonzaga to an 8-3 record. He passed for 1,770 yards with 19 touchdowns and four interceptions. He also had 838 rushing yards and 18 more scores.