Elite Alabama defensive end enjoys Clemson camp visit

Collins works out at Clemson's camp last week.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Jun 08 15:56:25 GMT-04:00 2021

When the Clemson coaches began to extend class of 2023 offers back on June 1st, one of the first offers sent out by defensive line coach Todd Bates was to 4-star defensive end Kelby Collins. It was no surprise that Collins made sure that Clemson was the first stop on his summer camp tour.

Collins, out of Gardendale (AL), worked out at head coach Dabo Swinney’s high school camp last week and was one of the most impressive defensive line prospects we saw all week. Collins said a Clemson offer was one had had been waiting on.

“It felt good to get that offer. I know that it takes a long time so it felt good to finally get it,” Collins said. “Coach Todd Bates is the one that extended the offer to me. We have a great relationship and we talk a lot. He gives advice and things like that. He also has a lot of cool stuff that he does with the relationship.”

Collins got a close-up tour of the Clemson facilities, one-on-one time with Bates and a special conversation with the head coach.

“It felt good when we got up there. Everything felt just like family up there,” Collins said. “It just felt good to finally get up there and talk to all of the coaches and Dabo. He is a good coach. We had a good real talk. Me and my family spent time talking to him and he seemed like a really good person to talk to.”

The facilities were also a hit.

“I liked everything. The bowling alley was really cool,” Collins said. “They had a nice game room and I really like the recovery area.”

He also enjoyed getting the chance to be coached by Bates.

“I enjoyed the coaching part of it,” he said. “I was coached by Coach Bates and all of the players and other coaches that were out there. I really enjoyed working out and taking the coaching.”

Already with scholarship offers from nearly two dozen programs, including Auburn, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M and others, Collins is looking forward to a busy month of June when he is finally able to visit campuses to begin the process of narrowing things down.

He will visit Georgia Wednesday and has plans to visit Florida on June 25th.

However, the Tigers made a good impression and will probably get a return visit for a game this fall.

“I think I will come back to visit for a game in the fall. I am looking forward to getting back up there,” Collins said.

I wanna thank @ClemsonFB and @CoachToddBates and the rest of the staff for a great visit these last couple days, looking forward to coming back #ALLIN ?? :more pics on my ig at showtime.kelby pic.twitter.com/6DOWABOARx
— Kelby Collins (@kelby_collins) June 5, 2021