Sumner-Gardner commits to Clemson

Clemson added commitment No. 3 to the 2014 class when Texas safety Dylan Sumner-Gardner committed on Thursday afternoon.

S Dylan Sumner-Gardner Profile

The rising junior spent the last three days in Clemson for the Dabo Swinney Football Camp. Before he left town for home in Mesquite, Tex., Sumner-Gardner committed to Clemson.

"I've liked Brian Dawkins since I was little, so I've always wanted to go to Clemson," he told CUTigers on Thursday afternoon.

Sumner-Gardner committed to Swinney and defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

"We were in coach Swinney's office. He was talking about what I'm going to do. I was like, 'It's always been my dream to play here at Clemson,'" Sumner-Gardner said. "[Swinney] was like, 'You know you have an offer, right?'

"I was like, 'Yeah.' And I told him that I was all in and I'm committed."

That was the plan all along. If Sumner-Gardner left with an offer, he'd leave as a Clemson commitment.

"I was on a bus [to Clemson] for 24 hours," he said. "All the hours I was on that bus, I was thinking, I've got to...I came down and wanted to show my skills to the coaches."

And he did just that.

Not bad for a guy who still hasn't played a down of varsity football.

Instead of logging only a handful of varsity snaps behind a loaded West Mesquite High School secondary, Sumner-Gardner played on the jayvee squad, to help his development.

Among the upperclassmen in that West Mesquite secondary were 2012 New Mexico signee Cranston Jones, 2013 Tennessee commit Kameron Miles and three-star senior William Earley.

"It feels good to know that all of my hard work is paying off," Sumner-Gardner said. "I'm working hard with coach [Kyle] Ward...with Will and Kam.

"Now, I'm going to show everybody what Dylan Gardner is all about."

Clemson wasn't the first offer for the rising junior. TCU offered earlier this summer. Oklahoma and Texas A&M were also expressing interest.

"I've got an offer from Clemson now, so it doesn't really matter," he said.