Clemson’s recruitment is different.
Just ask former NFL standouts Brandon Jacobs and Keith Brookings.
Jacobs and Brookings both know good football when they see it. That’s because the pair lived it. Jacobs played nine seasons in the NFL, winning two Super Bowls with the New York Giants. Brookings spent 15 years with the Falcons, Cowboys, and Broncos, and was a five-time Pro Bowler.
The pair’s football life has drastically changed, now guiding their sons as they aspire to make a career for themselves.
For Brayden Jacobs and Logan Brooking, that took them to Clemson.
But what led each family to make those choices that led them to this point?
On the “Two Right Turns Podcast,” the NFL dad duo sat down to discuss what makes Dabo Swinney and the Tigers the ultimate spot for their sons to pursue their football dreams.
The elder Jacobs and Brooking didn’t play at Clemson, so when their sons were being recruited to play for the Tigers, it was almost reliving the process.
It didn’t take long for both to be totally sold on the pitch that Swinney was pushing.
“Coach (Swinney) was just going on about the numbers of Clemson and how offers from Clemson matter. Once you come to Clemson, you’re at Clemson,” Jacobs said. “We were telling once you commit to Clemson, we expect you to stay committed to Clemson. We’re going to be committed to you. Now, with the way people are handling recruiting these days, they are forcing people to the portal and taking scholarships away. And Coach Swinney said, once you sign with Clemson, your scholarship is good till you graduate. You can break your leg, you can be half dead, but you’re going to get a degree from Clemson if I have anything to do with it. He said all this great stuff and I’m like, that’s what I needed to hear from my kid. I don’t know if the NFL’s in my son’s future. So that’s what I needed to hear, that he can come here and he can get a degree.”
Jacobs, whose son was a unanimous 4-star prospect and ranked as high as 51st overall, likely wishes he had more eligibility, saying to Swinney and recruits on a visit assembled that if he had that type of conversation in his playing days, he’d commit on the spot.
“When we were done talking, I said, listen, I don’t know about what your kids are thinking in here, but if I were a kid going through this process right now in this room that just heard that I’m committing today,” Jacobs said. “And I guess when I said that, I guess my own son heard it, he was like, really? So I just think it’s a great thing going through the recruiting process. Being a part of Clemson is much different than anywhere else. But coming to Clemson, it was different. I loved it. Again, like I said before, I wish I had that opportunity as a kid to come play for Clemson.”
For the two, it wasn’t just Swinney’s sales pitch that put them on a trajectory to a Clemson commitment, but the things the program offered their children beyond the gridiron.
