Rising QB recruit trending toward Clemson football ahead of commitment date

Blake Hebert is a Class of 2025 prospect from Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Blake Hebert’s recruitment moved fast. Now, all signs point toward him being a Clemson Tiger. Hebert, a Class of 2025 quarterback from Central Catholic (Mass.) High School, wasn’t on many Power Five schools’ radar entering the spring. But he picked up a dozen-plus big-time offers amid a May-June camp circuit – including one from Clemson on June 1. And with a decision date on deck for 10 a.m. Friday at his school’s football stadium, experts think Hebert’s headed to Death Valley as the first quarterback commit of the Garrett Riley era. 247Sports national recruiting reporters Steve Wiltfong and Brian Dohn have both filed Crystal Ball predictions for Hebert, the No. 11 QB in his class, to commit to Clemson over schools including North Carolina, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Ole Miss and Nebraska tomorrow. The On3 Sports Recruiting Prediction Machine also gives Clemson a 96.2% chance to land Hebert, a rising junior who’s listed at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds. “The people were really important,” Hebert told 247Sports of his soon-to-be-public choice. “Who I would be surrounding myself with? Obviously, the feel of the school and the academics were very important. The program and how the offense is run is very important, and then the coaching staff was important to me.” Hebert ranks as the No. 1 player in Massachusetts, the No. 11 quarterback in the class and the No. 170 overall recruit in the Class of 2025 per the 247Sports Composite, which factors in multiple websites’ rankings. Hebert is significantly higher in On3 Sports’ in-house rankings, where he’s the No. 6 QB and No. 65 national recruit, and a tad lower in 247Sports’ Top247 rankings, where he’s the No. 19 quarterback. Hebert isn’t yet ranked by ESPN or Rivals, the other two major services. As a sophomore at Central Catholic, Hebert completed 60% of his passes for 1,748 yards and 24 touchdowns against one interception in 12 games. His team went 9-3 in 2022. If he commits to Clemson, he’d be the Tigers’ second 2025 commit of the week. Four-star Liberty Christian (Va.) Academy running back Gideon Davidson – the No. 67 recruit in the class – picked Clemson over schools including Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State on Wednesday. Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley runs a drill and watches campers during the first of the 2023 Dabo Swinney High School Camps at the practice facilities at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. Wednesday, May 31, 2023. There are camps for High School (rising 8th-12th graders), and Youth camps. The camps provide campers with football fundamentals for various skill positions, with no-contact, no pads, or helmets. Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley runs a drill and watches campers during the first of the 2023 Dabo Swinney High School Camps at the practice facilities at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. Wednesday, May 31, 2023. There are camps for High School (rising 8th-12th graders), and Youth camps. The camps provide campers with football fundamentals for various skill positions, with no-contact, no pads, or helmets. Ken Ruinard / staff Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK Clemson QB recruiting update Hebert would also be the first quarterback to choose Clemson since coach Dabo Swinney brought in Riley as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in January. Swinney and Riley – who won the 2022 Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant for his work at College Football Playoff runner-up TCU – have missed on a number of quarterback prospects in the Class of 2024, one above Hebert. Top 10 quarterback recruits DJ Lagway (Florida), Jadyn Davis (Michigan), Walker White (Auburn) and Prentiss “Air” Noland (Ohio State) all received Clemson scholarship offers and considered the Tigers before committing to other Power Five schools this cycle. That can be partially attributed to the relative clarity surrounding Clemson’s quarterback room. Barring disaster, talented sophomore Cade Klubnik will be the Tigers’ starting QB the next two seasons with true freshman Christopher Vizzina positioned as his heir apparent. A commitment from Hebert – who, as a 2025 prospect, can’t sign his letter of intent until fall 2024 – would give Clemson a head start in assembling some depth behind Klubnik and Vizzina. Swinney also told The State in March that his program intended to sign a 2024 QB recruit before the cycle ends, either through the high school ranks or the transfer portal. “I mean, we’re going to continue to actively recruit a high school kid if we can find the right guy, but we’re not going to reach on a guy,” he said. “Because we’ve proven that we can go get a veteran guy if we need one. We’ve done that in the past two years, going and getting Hunter (Johnson) and then getting Paul Tyson this year. So it’s not a real concern for us right now.”