Clemson Whiffs on Top 15 Cornerback Recruit

For the third time in the past week, the Tigers have come up short on a top target on their recruiting board.

Clemson’s recruiting skid continues as another top defensive target comes off the board, adding to a tough week for the Tigers. | Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Clemson Tigers have had a pretty rough week in terms of recruiting, as they’ve now missed out on a third prospect following the whiffs of tight end prospects Grant Haviland and Tommy Douglas, both of whom chose to take their talents to the SEC.

On Sunday afternoon, it was announced that cornerback Kei’Shjuan Telfair opted to keep his talents up North, choosing Penn State over Clemson and Miami, as first reported by On3’s Hayes Fawcett.

BREAKING: Four-Star CB Kei’Shjuan Telfair has Committed to Penn State, he tells me for @Rivals⁰⁰The 6’0 165 CB from Euclid, OH chose the Nittany Lions over Miami and Clemson

“We Are”⁰https://t.co/I6XBoTxlUP pic.twitter.com/pa74o27WtN

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) April 19, 2026

The 6-foot, 160-pound defensive back is rated a four-star prospect and ranks as the No. 93 overall player, the No. 12 player at his position and the No. 4 player in the state of Ohio, according to 247Sports Composite rankings.

The Tigers have been in contact with Telfair for a while now, dating back to August 2025, when he visited campus for the weekend of the Clemson-LSU season-opener. Three months later, he finally received his offer from head coach Dabo Swinney. 

Prior to his commitment, he planned to return one more time for an official visit the weekend of May 29, but that clearly won’t be happening anymore.

That said, Telfair’s decision doesn’t come as much of a shock, as he received two expert predictions to land with the Nittany Lions. The first one came from Lion247 staff writer Tyler Calvaruso in late March, and the other from 247Sports national recruiting analyst Brian Dohn in early April.  

While the Tigers currently have local three-star Christian Chancellor Jr committed, missing out on the Telfair certainly stings for Clemson, considering their other top targets at the position are trending elsewhere.

Five-star Hayden Stepp recently left Clemson out of his finalists, while fellow five-star and in-state product Joshua Dobson is trending towards LSU and head coach Lane Kiffin. Not to mention, top 10 cornerback Ai’King Hall committed to Oregon just a week after receiving an offer from the Tigers.

As of now, the program is still firmly in the mix for four-star Jayden Aparicio-Bailey, placing Clemson in his top 10 finalists in February. Other players still on the board include three-star prospects Kamauri Whitfield, Larry Moon III and Bryant Robinson.

The other lone secondary commit for the Tigers is three-star Harrison Luke, son of offensive lineman coach Matt Luke. However, the program has three additional players at the position trending in the right direction, including Ta’Shawn Poole — who recently included Clemson in his top six landing spots — as well as four-stars Chance Gilbert and Jarrell Chandler.