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http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1375622
Many who follow recruiting were shocked when prized defensive end Robert Nkemdiche of Loganville (Ga.) Grayson, the country's No. 1 overall prospect, committed to Clemson on Thursday.
Although Nkemdiche consistently listed the Tigers among his favorites, few ever seemed to give the Tigers much of a shot.
Alabama, long considered the leader, not only had tradition and a history of producing NFL talent on its side, but a Crimson Tide alum - Mickey Conn - coaching his team.
Robert Nkemdiche followed his friend David Kamara to Clemson.
Ole Miss, where Nkemdiche's brother, Denzel, is a defensive back, also seemed like a possible destination. So did LSU, a school that Nkemdiche raved about at length after visiting earlier this year.
Recently, there also was chatter about Georgia, which hired Daryl Jones, a Grayson assistant during Nkemdiche's freshman year, as its Director of On-Campus Recruiting, and Mississippi State, which signed former Grayson quarterback Nick Schuessler, whom Nkemdiche has lived with, in February.
Meantime, Clemson got very little buzz.
That changed Wednesday night when defensive back David Kamara of Grayson, one of Nkemdiche's closest friends, announced via Twitter he had verbally committed to the Tigers. Kamara has said for months he and Nkemdiche intended to play together in college.
Turns out, he was right.
For Clemson, this pickup is, quite frankly, huge. Remember, this is the program that lost in embarrassing fashion on Jan. 4 in the Orange Bowl to West Virginia 70-33. That prompted the Tigers to part ways with defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and bring in Brent Venables from Oklahoma to replace him.
On May 18, Venables and fellow Clemson assistant Tony Elliott were in Georgia to watch Grayson's spring game.
So were two coaches each from Alabama and Ole Miss, and one from LSU. Nkemdiche originally was supposed to commit that night, but changed his mind a couple weeks earlier. After the scrimmage, he told Rivals.co he hoped to make a pledge sometime this summer.
On Tuesday, Nkemdiche Tweeted: "Going to visit Clemson tomorrow my boy Wayne already up there ."
Wayne is Wayne Gallman, a three-star Grayson running back who committed to Clemson in April.
After arriving at Clemson on Wednesday, Nkemdiche Tweeted, "Coolin with my boy Sammy Watkins talking football."
A day later, he pulled the trigger.
"I’m one of the world’s great survivors. I’ll always survive because I’ve got the right combination of wit, grit and bullshit."
© Don King
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