DE Watford, No. 31 in ’25, dedicates to Clemson

• Blake Baumgartner, ESPN Staff WriterJan 24, 2024, 12:57 PM ET

Clemson added to its 2025 recruiting class Wednesday with defensive end Ari Watford.Watford (No. 31 in

the 2025 ESPN 300 )is the third-best protective end in the cycle and right away ends up being the highest-ranked player for the Tigers in the class.He picked Clemson over Ohio State, Virginia Tech

and Syracuse.The 6-foot-6, 230-pound Watford goes to Maury High School (Virginia

)and is the leading player from that state. His pledge continues a trend for coach Dabo Swinney in addressing the protective line in recruiting.In the previous 2 complete cycles, Clemson has actually signed 6 ESPN 300 protective linemen– with 5 coming in a 2023 class, led by first-class Peter Woods(No. 4 total in 2023 ), that ESPN ranked 11th. With the conventional signing day approaching on Feb. 7, the Tigers ‘2024 group sits 14th. Last season, the Tigers’ defense ended up eighth nationally in both overall defense (287.8 YPG)

and passing defense (173.2 YPG ), leading a five-game winning streak to close out the year after gutting through a 4-4 start.Clemson begins its 2024 season versus Georgia on Aug. 31.