Is Jadeveon Clowney Leaning Toward Signing With Clemson?

We’re just under a week away from the signing of the very last unsigned (and best) blue-chip prospect in the college football recruiting class of 2011: Jadeveon Clowney, a strongside defensive end with a name as outstanding as his hair, will announce his college choice next Monday, which also happens to be his birthday. With a flourish of a pen, Clowney will change the football fortunes of one team; he’s already narrowed his choices to the three programs to which he took official visits: Alabama, Clemson, and South Carolina. (For whatever this is worth, Clowney has expressed a desire to stay close to home, and Alabama fans don’t hold out much hope of swiping him from the Palmetto State.) And while he’s been remarkably closemouthed about the process so far, did Clowney tip his selection on Monday in an interview with the New York Times?

As it turns out, Clowney’s choice to delay his announcement might have helped Clemson’s chances.
“Clemson had a good recruiting class,” Clowney said Monday in a telephone interview. “If I go, they would have an even better one. They had all the top linebackers, and I was thinking I could join them.”
Landing Clowney would be a huge get for a Dabo Swinney recruiting class that’s already bursting with five-star recruits.

Clowney’s announcement is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. EST on February 14, at his own South Pointe High School. The event will be carried live on ESPNU. For more South Carolina and Clemson athletics news, visit SB Nation’s Garnet And Black Attack and Shakin’ The Southland.