Football and Faith: Florida athlete from family rich in both enjoyed time at Clemson

The Clemson 2022 football recruiting class, the nation's 11th best, was completed on Wednesday. The coaching staff will now turn to the 2023 class in which receiver Nathaniel Joseph‍ is the lone commit.

Joseph is one of only five receivers offered in the class. Brandon Inniss‍, No. 1 overall at the position, and No. 9 Noah Rogers‍ are the top prospects on the board.

On Jan. 21, three-star athlete Creed Whittemore‍ (F.W. Buchholz High, FL) was on campus for a visit. Clemson has shown interest in him as a slot receiver. 

"That was my first time even driving through," said the Gainesville native. "I had never driven through that area. So it was just cool to see even the town and just the cities around it like Greenville."

Whittemore is the starting quarterback at Buchholz, where he's coached by his father, Mark Whittemore. He has offers at quarterback and wide receiver. 

It was Mark's relationship with a Clemson defensive coach that led to Creed's visit. 

"So Coach [Mickey] Conn got in contact with my dad," Whittemore explained. "So, they've known each other for a little bit and he was just asking about me, and so my dad kind of told him what I was all about, and we went up there."

Clemson has yet to offer, and Whittemore understands why they and other schools have withheld an offer. 

"With a guy like me -- who plays quarterback for his high school -- I'm patient with the coaches because I personally probably wouldn't offer a kid at receiver who I've never seen run routes and don't have any film on."

Whittemore is, however, very familiar with the position. He lines up there at summer camps, and his father played the position at UCF during the 1990s, his oldest brother, Luke, at Troy (2018-2021), and another brother, Trent, is a junior at Florida, where he started eight games in 2021. 

"What we do is play receiver," said Whittemore, who had a strong year at quarterback. 

The junior passed for 2,101 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushed for 763 yards with eight scores, according to Maxpreps. 

So has he considered playing quarterback in college?

"I've thought about it. But I think receiver probably gives me a better chance at playing at a really high level right now," he stated. "But if something were to happen and I ended up playing quarterback, then I would do it. I definitely enjoy playing quarterback."

Clemson Wide Receivers coach Tyler Grisham can relate to Whittemore's probable path to receiver because he was a quarterback at Spain Park High in Birmingham, AL before becoming a receiver at Clemson.

Whittemore said he knew little about Grisham prior to the visit but their relationship is progressing. 

"Yeah, we have started to build a relationship for sure," said Whittemore, listed at 5'11, 175 pounds which is almost identical to Grisham's freshman measurements of 5'11, 183 in 2005. "I think he's a great coach. A guy that kinda even looks like me, body type wise."

Furthermore, Whittemore expects Grisham to attend his spring practice, and he plans to return to Clemson for Dabo Swinney’s Camp. 

"So I'll go there for a camp. They'll come to a spring practice and I'm sure he'll see what I can do there, and we'll go from there."

In June, his cousin, Malachi Singleton‍ (North Cobb High, GA), the 22nd-ranked quarterback in the 2023 class, participated in two sessions of Swinney’s camp. 

The cousins have received common interest from the Tigers and others including offers from UCF and West Virginia. 

Will they play together in 2023?

"We've always joked around about it since we were young," said Whittemore, who caught passes from Singleton on summer visits to UCF and Florida. "It'd be something to where we'd have to both feel really comfortable about the school. I don't want to force him to do anything, and he doesn't want to force me to make any decision. But if we came to a point where we both really liked a school and it was the best opportunity for him and the best opportunity for me -- it'd be really cool to play together."

Singleton's mom, Margaret Whittemore Singleton, is Creed's aunt and Mark's sister. She's a former softball player herself and Malachi's older brothers, Christian (Western Michigan) and Cobe (Erskine) are already college football players. 

Athleticism runs deep in the family and that also includes Creed's mom, Missy, a former Florida Gators volleyball player with her retired number 19 hanging from the rafters of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville.

Along with their fervor for athletics, faith is very important to the Whittemores. The family is open about their faith and fellowship, and Whittemore saw a similar environment at Clemson. 

"People always talk about the family atmosphere at Clemson, and you could definitely see the way the coaches care about each other," he stated. "I'm a Christian and for a coach to just bring up his faith and for the people around him to just be totally fine and not weird about it just made me and my family feel comfortable. I think that's important to me, but not only that, I think they're good, great football coaches."

Margaret accompanied Singleton to camp and got a feel for the program's relationship with faith as well.

"I literally felt like I was at FCA camp, because they really talked to the kids about faith and having hope," noted Margaret, a pastor's daughter, while discussing her son's visit. "I've raised my children to have that faith and hope and, so it was just cool that it was reiterated on a college campus."

Whittemore said he is far from choosing a school but came away impressed with the Clemson program. 

"It'd be cool to play for a guy [Grisham] like that with his faith, the whole staff's faith, the family atmosphere, and culture. I was impressed with everything and really enjoyed it."

Since his stop at Clemson, Whittemore has been to Wake Forest and Auburn. His current offers list includes Florida, Texas A&M, UCF, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Ole Miss, and others.