Riley gets his QB: Hebert commits to the Tigers

Hebert threw in front of the Clemson coaches at camp.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Jun 16 14:12:22 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson’s 2025 recruiting class is off to a great start.

The Tigers and head coach Dabo Swinney picked up 4-star running back Gideon Davidson out of Virginia, and Davidson now has a quarterback from his class after Blake Hebert (pronounced HE-bert) of Lawrence (MA) announced a commitment at his high school Friday morning.

It’s been a busy summer for Hebert, who has traveled to Penn State, Virginia, Rutgers, Boston College and Notre Dame. He’s also picked up offers on the camp circuit, including from Illinois, Purdue, Iowa, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Pitt, Nebraska and Auburn.

But it was Clemson that stood out.

“I can’t really explain it. It’s just that feeling that I got from being around all the guys and the coaching staff and being on campus,” Hebert told TigerNet Friday. “What really blew me away was the actual school. Football kind of speaks for itself, but the actual university itself was pretty outstanding. I value my academics. We got to talk to some tutors and everything, so that was pretty cool.”

Hebert said there was something else that stood out.

“Expectations they have moving forward,” he said. “It’s their history of the program. It’s their culture and their drive to win football games and be great people at the same time.”

Hebert spent time at Swinney’s high school camp two weeks ago, where he worked out in front of the Tigers’ head coach, new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, quarterback Cade Klubnik, and former Clemson quarterbacks Cole Stoudt and Tajh Boyd.

“I didn’t feel any pressure or anything,” Hebert said. “I was just throwing the football around with some of the other top guys in the country. It didn’t really matter who was watching. Obviously, it was cool to be in front of him, but at the end of the day, I’m just going to throw it around and do my thing. We talked, and he definitely highlighted some areas of my game that will fit well, and it all kind of made sense to me.”

Last season Hebert passed for 1748 yards and 24 touchdowns with one interception. He completed 111 of 185 pass attempts.

“I think my strength is probably my eyes,” Hebert said. “Pre-snap, being able to break it down and also make adjustments on the fly post-snap. To be able to move guys with my eyes. I think something that I can work on is maybe just using my legs a little more. I like to hang in the pocket and dissect a little bit, but sometimes I need to know when it’s time to take off.”