5-star Saturday: Florida wide receiver says "Clemson is where I want to be"

Ladson is the highest-ranked member of Clemson's 2019 class

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Sun Apr 15 08:01:03 GMT-04:00 2018

Clemson’s annual spring game should be known as “5-star Saturday” from here on out.

A year ago at Clemson’s spring game, 5-star defensive end Xavier Thomas committed to the Tigers and he will play in today’s game. This morning, 2019 5-star wide receiver Frank Ladson out of Miami (FL) South Dade told wide receivers coach Jeff Scott and head coach Dabo Swinney that he wanted to be a part of Wide Receiver U.

“I’ve just been feeling Clemson for a while now. I feel like it was just time to pull the trigger and settle down and just focus on my season and my academics,” Ladson told TigerNet after walking out of Swinney’s office. “Like I said, I’ve always had a strong feeling for Clemson just because of their reputation as ‘Wide Receiver U,’ but when I finally came up here and finally saw the school at elite junior day, I felt good about the school. After that, going through the process, I realized that Clemson is where I want to be and where I want to be for the next three or four years.”

Ladson said he’s known for a while now that he wanted to commit, but waited for the right moment.

“Nobody knew that I was going to commit. I told Coach Scott first,” he said. “I just left Coach Swinney’s office. He was really happy. He was so happy. He jumped up and everything. He knew I had been to Miami a couple of times. He had no idea, so he was really excited.”

The 6-foot-4 target had been long trending Clemson’s way since decommiting from Florida in December, where Saturday was a second stop in 2018 after an Elite Junior Day visit in January.

He shot up the recruiting rankings as the attention turned to the 2019 class, cracking the top-10 overall on 247Sports as the No. 2-rated receiver there. Despite the rankings and other schools being closer to home, Ladson says his recruitment is over.

“My recruitment is shut down. I’m 1000-percent ‘All In’. I ’m a Clemson Tiger and will be signing with Clemson University in December during the early signing period,” Ladson told TigerNet.

He then said that he can’t wait to join the ranks of storied receivers that have come through Clemson, including Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins, and Mike Williams.

“You have to live up to the standards of ‘Wide Receiver U.’ You know you have to come in and work hard,” Ladson said. “I just want my name up there with them as one of the best and one of the greatest receivers to come from Clemson.”

Ladson posted 29 catches for 675 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns as a junior.

He is the highest-rated member of the Clemson 2019 class, joining 3-star receiver Brannon Spector (Calhoun HS) and 3-star tight end Jaelyn Lay (Riverdale HS) on the offensive side. He is the 37th overall player in the ESPN300.

The 6-foot-4, 170-pound receiver has offers to play for 21 schools, including Baylor, Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami (Fla.), Penn State, South Carolina and Michigan.