Though much of the nation’s focus is on the 2025 recruiting class, which can begin to sign financial aid agreements with universities on Wednesday, Clemson added a piece to its 2026 class this week. Brandon Wilmes, a 3-star recruit from Lawrence, Kansas announced Monday on social media his intention to play for the Tigers.
Standing at a towering 6-foot-8 and weighing 280 pounds, he’s already close to having the size to play in the ACC. Once he adds a little more weight to his frame, he could be a prototypical offensive tackle at the collegiate level.
Currently, Wilmes is rated as the No. 583 overall player in the nation according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings. That ranking also lists him as the No. 41 offensive tackle in America and the No. 6 overall player in Kansas.
In addition to Clemson, Wilmes has offers from the likes of Arkansas, Duke, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.
Replenishing the offensive line ranks is always a priority for college football programs. Obviously, that position group puts as many players on the field as any other at any given time.
This year, of the 22 offensive linemen on the Clemson roster, only nine are juniors or seniors. Thus, there is plenty of depth in the program along the O-line.
Still, if any program understands the importance of quality numbers along the offensive line, it would be the 2024 Clemson Tigers. That’s because head coach Dabo Swinney and his team have had to navigate massive injury woes up front this year, so much to the point that prior to the game versus The Citadel, the team was so thin at O-line that Swinney wasn’t sure early in the week if there was going to be enough healthy offensive linemen to hold a full practice.
So while Wilmes is the first offensive lineman to commit to Clemson in the class of 2026, he won’t be the last. In the upcoming class of 2025, Clemson expects to sign a full five-man offensive line class. That should be the goal for 2026 as well and Wilmes is a great way to start that endeavor.
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