Auburn legacy wants to make his own path at Clemson

Nix signed with Clemson on Wednesday.

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Thu Feb 03 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

An opportunity to walk on at Clemson, and play football outside of the state of Alabama, was too much for Caleb Nix to pass up.

The Phenix City (AL) Central quarterback – son of legendary Auburn quarterback Pat Nix and brother of Bo Nix – signed with Clemson on Wednesday as part of National Signing Day; however, it wasn’t just the football that drew him to Clemson.

Nix told TigerNet earlier in the week that Clemson was a place he could see himself spending four years on campus even if a football offer wasn’t on the table.

“On my unofficial visit, I was able to see the academic center, talk to the academic advisors and I saw how important academics are at Clemson,” Nix told TigerNet. “That's something that's really important to me. I was able to meet the strength and training staff and see those areas of the football program. Those are both really strong and important to athletes. I was able to meet the coaches and staff that I would be around every day and see how good of men they are and how important their Christian faith is, which is something that's very important to me. As far as the school and campus, without football, I would still enjoy going to college there.”

Despite having offers from Austin Peay, Dartmouth, Louisiana-Monroe and Samford, the opportunity to play at Clemson was too good of an offer to pass up.

“My senior year was by far my best season, so my recruiting picked up the summer going into my senior year,” Nix said. “I had a few opportunities from some smaller schools, some lower-level schools, and some schools that were waiting to see what was going to happen with COVID years and the transfer portal. This January as coaches were coming by, Coach Swinney came by my school and he was talking to my dad - who is the head coach - and asking him what I was doing.

“I wasn't sure what I was doing at that point and Coach Swinney offered me a preferred walk-on spot. I stayed in contact with him and Clemson for the next couple of weeks and I was able to take an unofficial visit a couple of Saturdays ago. I was able to get on campus, see the campus, see the facilities, meet a lot of the coaching staff. I really liked it and then last week I knew that's where I wanted to go and that's where I wanted to be.”

And, playing somewhere other than the Yellowhammer State was an added bonus.

“Actually, it was. As my recruiting process continued and as I grew older, I started thinking about where I wanted to go, I decided I wanted to get out of the state of Alabama and do something else,” he said. “Clemson has always been a school that I liked watching from afar. It's a great program that's run the right way and they do everything the right way, there are a lot of great men on the staff and they win a lot of football games. From afar, I always thought that I could see myself at Clemson, and as it went the door opened, so I'm really excited to be able to go.”

With a quarterback room that already has DJ Uiagalelei, Cade Klubnik, Hunter Johnson, Hunter Helms, Billy Wiles and Trent Pearman, Nix will transition to safety at Clemson, a challenge he’s ready to accept.

“Actually, because I'm a pretty good athlete, Coach Swinney has talked to me about switching positions and not playing quarterback,” he said “I'll play the safety position. From now until June, I just want to keep getting bigger, faster, stronger, and doing the normal off-season things that you have to do to stay healthy and be the best you can be. As far as if I switch to safety, just working on the basic fundamentals and techniques that I have to learn because I've always played quarterback in high school. As far as my first year, I just want to figure out how I can help the team - whether that's on special teams, being a scout team player, whatever I can do. I want to find that role and be the best I can be at it.”

As quarterback at Central High School, Nix accounted for 5,415 total yards and 67 touchdowns during his prep career and recorded 2,897 passing yards and 38 touchdowns while running for 639 yards and an additional 12 touchdowns as a senior in 2021. He earned all-state honors and All-Area Player of the Year in helping the Red Devils to a 13-1 record and Class 7A state title game berth as a senior.