Five-star Georgia lineman sees Clemson as a statement offer

Petty hopes to make it to Clemson this summer.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue May 09 13:44:07 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson offensive line coach Thomas Austin is once again looking in the state of Georgia for a prospect, and one particular 5-star is starting to gain attention.

Josh Petty is a 2025 prospect out of Roswell (GA) Fellowship Christian School who is the nation’s No. 2 offensive tackle and No. 13 overall prospect in the 2025 class, per the 247Sports Composite.

Austin recently reached out to Petty to start the recruiting process.

“I'd say it was about a month ago when he first contacted me,” Petty told TigerNet. “I had some speed training at the field and my coach called me over after practice and I talked to him for a good about 10, 15 minutes.”

Petty said he is familiar with Clemson.

“I know it's a big school and a couple of my guys from Fellowship go there now,” Petty said. “Not playing football, but he tells me it's awesome up there and the environment, the student section is wild.”

Petty picked up his first offer from Georgia Tech in early January and has since collected other Power Five offers from Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, Auburn, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, Stanford, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College.

Petty said he is planning on taking a bunch of summer visits, and Clemson will definitely be on the list.

“Yes, sir. I have to. Got to go see what's going on up there,” he said. “Over the summer, I'm definitely going to try to get that visit in. I've got a couple visits scheduled over the summer, so really it's just finding dates that line up perfectly with my football schedule and my parents' schedule. I'm going to probably go to the West Coast. I'm going to go to Oregon, Stanford, probably Texas, and then I'm going to go up north to Michigan and Ohio State. Probably Tennessee again. There are a bunch of schools we want to see.”

Petty said he feels honored that so many big-name schools have shown interest.

“Recruitment is crazy. A couple months ago I was struggling trying to get offers and a young kid just trying to earn an offer and become known to these coaches, trying to play at the next level,” he said. “And after these last couple of months, offers have spiked coming in, being able to go on this recruiting journey, treated like first class and it's crazy to me. Being able to talk to all these coaches and just have this unreal experience that I was always hoping for as a kid is amazing.”

What would a Clemson offer mean?

“It would mean a lot. Like I said, I've used this word a couple times, Clemson's definitely a statement offer,” Petty said. “And that school is a big school that I'm definitely going to consider later to my recruitment and look at going there because I know what they do for linemen and I know what they do on campus in trying to bring you to the next level.”

Petty said he is in the process of building his relationship with Austin.

“Me and Coach Austin talked quite a bit. He says he likes my film, definitely wants me to get up to campus, maybe go to the camp of theirs and just tells me that he doesn't really offer 2025s and they don't do that early in the process,” Petty said. “So definitely getting up there to talk to those coaches and see my next steps with them.”