CLEMSON RECRUITING

Riggs uses

Riggs uses "All In" chip to turn the tables on Swinney


by - Senior Writer -

Zach Riggs Zach Riggs
Tight End
6-5, 245
Greenville, SC

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has been in possession of one of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney Dabo Swinney
Head Coach
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’s “All In” poker chips since Swinney took over for Tommy Bowden midway through the 2008 season.

Swinney gives out the chips to Clemson fans as he tries to promote his “All In” slogan, but Sunday morning saw Riggs turn the tables on his soon-to-be head coach.

Riggs, the 2013 tight end prospect out of Greenville (SC) J.L. Mann is the son of former Clemson great Jim Riggs, and he visited Clemson this past weekend as he considered whether to accept a preferred walk-on offer from the Clemson coaches.

He met with Swinney Sunday morning in Swinney’s office, and produced a little gamesmanship in showing where he wanted to play college football.

“I committed this morning. I had my meeting with Coach Swinney this morning,” Riggs told TigerNet shortly after the meeting. “I was the first one of the day. I got to his office about nine, and I kind of knew I was going to do it this weekend. I mean, I always had that feeling. I was talking to my parents last night. We’ve always had a couple of the “All In” chips from his first year here at Clemson. So I had one of those with me.

“I was thinking I have to do something with this, because it’s something new in Clemson history to get the ‘All In’ chips before the games. I got in there and I had it in my pocket. We were just talking; we talked about 35-45 minutes. At the end Coach [Mike] Dooley walked in to tell us to wrap it up. He said, ‘Is there anything else you’d like to add Zach?’ I said, ‘Yea, I got one more thing.’ I pulled it out of my pocket and I said, ‘I’m all in coach!’ He gave me a big hug and he said it was just the coolest thing he’d ever seen. It was just exciting. I am very excited.”

Riggs said he will accept the offer to walk on and see where it leads, and he is a tight end as of right now.

“It’s exciting. It’s an opportunity I’ll take it full force, make the best of it and run with it,” he said. “I’m a tight end as of now. Hopefully I work out with them and basically anything can happen when I get in the program. I’m probably gonna get bigger – that’s kind of a given. Coach Swinney said he thinks I could be a premier center because he thinks I have a good mindset for it, and the brains and stuff like that. So we’ll see. I mean anything can happen. But I’m just ready to get in the program and make the best of it.”

He said he is also excited about getting to carry on the legacy started by his dad and his uncle, Matt Riggs.

“It’s definitely thrilling. I never thought I’d have an opportunity like this,” he said. “It’s honestly everything I could ever want, with the family atmosphere and the family aspect of it. I mean it’s thrilling. I really don’t know how to put it into words. I’m just so excited right now. I got like six hours of sleep this weekend. I was just thinking about everything and talking to the different recruits. I’m just excited to have the opportunity.”

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