5-star OL Cade Mays breaks down "first class" Clemson visit

5-star OL Cade Mays spent two days in Clemson for his official visit

by TigerNet Staff - Mon Nov 20 11:35:44 GMT-04:00 2017

Clemson hosted six uncommitted prospects on official visits last weekend and for 5-star offensive lineman Cade Mays the visit could not have gone any better.

In other words, everything about the visit and Clemson was “first class.”

Mays – the Knoxville (TN) Catholic standout – spent Saturday and Sunday with Clemson’s coaching staff, players, recruits and commits and he said he came away impressed with everything he saw and heard.

“I really enjoyed it. I spent a lot of time with Coach (Robbie) Caldwell and Coach (Dabo) Swinney,” Mays told TigerNet Monday morning. “Everybody was very kind to me and they made me feel like family. I'm very appreciative of that. I spent a lot of time with the players - mostly the offensive line. I spent a lot of time with my former teammate, Amari Rodgers, and one of my middle school best friends, Mike Jones. We've built a very good relationship since middle school and have been good friends since then. I just enjoyed everything about my visit. It was first class.”

Clemson’s product on the field and facilities are second to none, but what stuck with Mays were the people he encountered all weekend.

“Just the way I was treated when I was there,” Mays said. “Everybody was very kind. We went to Coach Swinney's house with all of the guys who on officials and had dinner. It was just first class. Everything about it was awesome.”

One of the highlights of the visit was the trip to Swinney’s new house.

“I don't even think you can call it a house. It's a castle,” Mays said. “It's unbelievable. Obviously, he's done a great job and he deserves it. He was telling us that after he's long gone, he wants that to be the next head coach's house. That means a lot to him. He loves it. Everybody that was there loved and was blown away by it.”

While freshman offensive lineman Matt Bockhorst was his player host, Mays spent a considerable amount of time with Rodgers – his former high school teammate – who had nothing but good things to say about his first semester at Clemson.

“He just said that what you see is what you get. They don't put on a front for recruiting,” Mays said of his conversations with Rodgers. “It's exactly what they tell you it's going to be and it's genuine. Everything that you see on your visit is what you're going to get when you get there, so that means a lot to me. Amari said nothing but great things about the development there, not only as a player there but also as a person. Coach Swinney is a great guy and all of his players love him. Coach Caldwell is a great coach too.”

Mays said he has a top five of Clemson, Georgia, Tennessee, Notre Dame and Ohio State and still has three official visits before making a decision. He’ll visit Tennessee on December 1, Notre Dame on December 8 and Georgia on December 15.

However, the No. 19 overall player in the ESPN300 says he’s taking the final recruiting push in stride and keeping all of his options open.

“They're (Clemson) one of my top schools. I just have a top five that is all of the schools that I'm taking officials to, so I don't really have top one or two,” he said. “I just have a top five and I'm weighing all of those options equally. I'll make my decision on December 20th, but I'm just praying about it right now. I'm letting God take control of my situation. I'm not really stressing about it and I'm just taking everything in as it goes and taking it day by day.”