With the ink barely dry on the National Letters of Intent for this recruiting year a pair of future Tigers can’t wait to get their hands on a pen next year at about this time.

Clemson has received early commitments from two players who are ranked among the best of the 2025 graduating class.

Greenville’s Tip Price is well known among junior golfers in South Carolina. As a very young golfer Price earned a major headline for winning the Drive, Chip and Putt contest at Augusta National and has added to his resume as he has grown up in junior golf.

His future college teammate and roommate at Clemson, Jackson Byrd has a name long associated with the Tigers,
Byrd, who according to the Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings, is the 11th overall ranked junior and 4th in the Class of 2025.

In the same ranking Price is a top-100 golfer who is in the top-30 in his graduating year.

Along with a third early commitment from Samuel Duran from Panama the Tigers have the makings of a class that can be among the best in the country.

Next year.

While players can announce their intentions, NCAA rules prohibit schools and coaches from saying anything, even confirming a commitment, from players who are not on the team or who have not yet signed their NLI.

Clemson’s coach Jordan Byrd can’t say anything, but there are no restrictions on the future players from talking about their decision and expectations.

Across the country many top players have made early commitments announcements often for different reasons.

Some want to end the recruiting hassle and enjoy their senior high school year while others may be responding to pressure from any number of sources to make their college decision public early.

“You look around and you see most of the top ranked players have made commitments,” said Price.

A quick review of a national golf recruiting website shows almost as many announcements for golfers in the class of 2025 making their decisions as there are for the golfers in the current 2024 class.

Price went through the recruiting process, took his visits, but had Clemson as the front runner.

“When I went on visits I compared what those schools had to what I liked about Clemson. All of them had something that set them apart, but Clemson was the only program that had all of what I was looking for,” said Price.

For the Greenville High School golfer, head coach Jordan Byrd and assistant coach Joey Maxon were a big part of his decision.

“I know they will help me be the best player I can be and reach my goals in college,” said Price.

If you were just looking in from outside you might have thought Clemson coach Jordan Byrd getting his nephew and the son of a five time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Byrd to become a second generation Tiger golfer was a slam dunk

Among Byrd’s achievements in his young career was a victory in the Matthew NeSmith AJGA event played in Columbia last summer.

As one of the top-10 juniors in the country Byrd could just about have had his pick of any place he wanted to play college golf and Clemson had to recruit him just as they did with Price and the others.

Family ties had to be a factor, but in all college recruiting these days the relationships among the players may be as important as family or any other consideration.

The top junior golfers travel a circuit very similar to a professional tour. By the time they are ready to make a college decision they have played with and against many if not all the top players in the country.

They know who they enjoy being around and who they don’t.

The best players probably do as much recruiting as any college coach.

Much like when NBA players grab their friends to go to a team together, top ranked junior golfers are doing the same.
Price and Byrd are not alone. The same pairing up of friends and future teammates is going on all over the college sport.

The concentration of major events and the quality of golfers in the Southeast makes the competition for top players more intense.

The Clemson roster will lose three seniors at the end of this year.

Byrd has recruited Colin Salema from, Matthews, NC., Jacob Immelman from Winter Park, Florida and Rich Wills from Cramerton, NC. to join the Tigers next year.

By the time Price and Byrd get to campus, this year’s three recruits and two current Tigers,Thomas Higgins and Will Baker, will make up the team.

There could be some additional recruits or transfers in, but the success Byrd has had this year and landing the three future commitments could give the Clemson program the kind of secure footing with nationally ranked players, who can help keep the Tigers in the rankings and running for championships.

“I’ve gotten to know all these guys. (this year’s recruits and next) We are all friends and all looking forward to when we are all at Clemson,” concluded Price.