Clemson football RB target changes timeline ahead of 2023 early signing period
One of Clemson football’s final Class of 2023 recruiting targets is changing his plans ahead of next week’s early signing period.
Running back Jamarius Haynes had originally planned to sign his national letter of intent with a school during the Dec. 21-23 early period.
But he’s now pushing back that signing to the February 2023 regular period, he confirmed to The State on Friday morning via text.
On3 Sports was the first to report the news.
Despite his altered timeline, Haynes — who, outside of signing periods, can verbally commit to a school whenever he wants – told The State he’s still actively considering Clemson. He’s also out of school Dec. 21-23 and would prefer to hold a larger February ceremony with his coaches and friends in attendance, per All Clemson.
Clemson offered Haynes in October. It was, at that point, the first FBS scholarship offer for the unranked senior running back from Handley High School in Alabama.
Since then, Haynes has picked up offers from three more FBS schools: Washington State, Western Kentucky and Coastal Carolina. He officially visited Clemson last month for the South Carolina game and hasn’t scheduled any future official visits, per All Clemson.
Position of need
Running back is Clemson’s last — and most pressing — position of need in a 2023 recruiting class that ranks second in the ACC and 11th nationally, per 247Sports. The Tigers struck out on a number of prospects this cycle, including Auburn commit Jeremiah Cobb and Miami commit Christopher Johnson, and entered December without a single running back commit.
The situation got even more dire when junior running back Kobe Pace entered the transfer portal on Dec. 5, leaving Clemson with minimal depth behind all-purpose star Will Shipley (1,110 rushing yards, 15 TDs) and top backup Phil Mafah (476 yards, four TDs).
Coach Dabo Swinney and running backs coach C.J. Spiller moved quickly, offering a scholarship to three-star running back recruit Jarvis Green. Green, who starred locally at Irmo’s Dutch Fork High School, had been committed to James Madison since August but openly described Clemson as a dream school and flipped to the Tigers six days after his offer.
Clemson also got a Wednesday commitment from West Forsyth (Ga.) High School running back Peyton Streko, who will join the program as a preferred walk-on.
That leaves the Tigers wiggle room to sign one more 2023 scholarship back to join Shipley, Mafah, Green, Streko, Domonique Thomas and Keith Adams Jr. in next year’s room.
The top two candidates there? Haynes and three-star South Paulding (Ga.) High School recruit Jamarion Wilcox. Clemson offered Wilcox in September, and he included them as one of his four finalists last week alongside Auburn, Kentucky and Ohio State.
Wilcox took an October official visit to Kentucky and has one 247Sports Crystal Ball prediction to commit to the Wildcats.
Haynes has no Crystal Ball predictions, but the On3 Sports Recruiting Prediction Machine gives him a 99.7% chance to ultimately commit to Clemson.
This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 10:43 AM with the headline "Clemson football RB target changes timeline ahead of 2023 early signing period."
