Top OL target happy to be back in Clemson, wants to spend time with Matt Luke

Gooden is part of Clemson's Elite Junior Day.

by Jake Pierce - Recruiting Reporter - Fri Jan 26 07:00:02 GMT-04:00 2024

Clemson offensive line coach Matt Luke has hit the ground running in recruiting, and one of his biggest targets in the 2025 class is set to be on campus Saturday for a major recruiting event.

Nashville (TN) four-star offensive lineman Chauncey Gooden will be in attendance for Clemson’s Elite Junior Day, joining a list of top targets on the offensive line in the ’25 class who will be on campus this weekend. At 6-4, 320-pounds, Gooden is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 8 interior offensive lineman and the No. 155 player overall in the ’25 class. Gooden announced a top schools list in December, with Clemson joined by Michigan, Oregon, Auburn, Colorado, Oklahoma, Tennessee, South Carolina, Missouri, and Georgia.

Gooden picked up a Clemson offer in May ’23, one of the first offensive linemen to receive an offer from Clemson in the ’25 class. With the visit coming up for Elite Junior Day, Gooden is looking forward to learning more about his potential future position coach.

“I’m just looking forward to building a better bond with coach Luke,” Gooden told TigerNet. “Coach Luke has been reaching out to me a lot and telling me that I’m a priority. My first impressions of coach Luke have been outstanding. He’s been telling me the great things that he’s trying to do with the program. He said that he’s trying to recruit the best 2025 offensive line class in the country. I feel like he’s really determined to get Clemson back to a national title. And if that’s the mindset around campus, then it definitely fits me because I’m all about winning.”

Gooden has always had an eye for Clemson, and now in a position to play for a program like the Tigers, Gooden is learning all about the team he watched growing up.

“I mean to start off, Clemson was a dream school of mine growing up,” Gooden said of his interest in Clemson. “They still want to be one of the top teams in the nation, and I know they can produce me to be the best player and person I can be.”

Gooden has received over 50 offers in his recruitment, and naming a top ten gave him a chance to focus more on the schools that he has grown close to. What’s next in the recruiting process for Gooden?

“Right now in my recruiting process, I may drop a top three or top five, but after that, my main goal is really set on committing,” he said. “I just know a lot of schools are trying to recruit me like Georgia, South Carolina, and Michigan. So, I’ll see what happens.”

Clemson has their eye on many of the top offensive linemen in the ’25 class, and Gooden also has a highly-rated recruit in mind that he would like to team up with in college.

“Me and David Sanders talk about Clemson a lot, so that would definitely be somebody I would like to play with,” Gooden said.