D.W. Daniel's Griffin Batt Has Always Known He Wanted to Be Clemson Tiger

Despite all of the changes the sport has gone through over the years, college football is still a place where dreams do in fact come true.

One of the most recent examples came when Griffin Batt committed to play football for Clemson over the weekend. The linebacker from D.W. Daniel has grown up in Clemson and he's known from an early age that he wanted to play football for the Tigers.

"Since I was like seven years old I've kind of always knew exactly what I wanted to do," Batt told All Clemson after his commitment. "It was kind of like growing up here, going to all the games, seeing them run down the hill, like that whole entire atmosphere, I just always really, really wanted to be a part of it."

All Glory to God, I’M ALL IN 🐅 pic.twitter.com/uTulbdmOGZ
— Griffin Batt (@batt_griffin) July 16, 2021

Living in Clemson and playing at Daniel gave Batt an opportunity to grow up and play with not only Dabo Swinney's sons, but also the sons of some of the other coaches on the staff. It's also given Swinney and the rest of his staff an up-close look at the player that Batt has become.

"I live in Clemson and my dad is pretty good friends with some of the coaches," Batt said. "Coach Swinney was actually my baseball coach for a while and I'm really, really good friends with a lot of the coach's sons. They're at every football game, watching their sons play."

Batt accepted a preferred walk-on offer despite the fact that he was hearing from some of the most prestigious schools in the country. While he plays linebacker in high school, the plan is for him to be a long snapper and tight end at the next level.

"I was getting a lot of interest from the Ivy League schools and from some smaller schools," Batt said. "Charlotte, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, all those schools, but growing up here and just that wanting to be my dream, when the opportunity came it was a no-brainer."

"It was just a dream of mine since I was really, really young. Always being around it, it was like, you know, just something that was always on my mind type thing. So, they. One day I was at Coach Swinney's house and he offered me a preferred walk-on."

The rising senior was on hand for Clemson's Elite Retreat in June, plans to be at the All In Cookout at the end of this month, and is very much looking forward to the first time he gets to run down Clemson's iconic hill. However, Batt says he and his teammates at Daniel still have some unfinished business to take care of this season before he can fully turn his attention towards playing for the Tigers.

"That's special like I cannot wait for that moment," Batt said of running down the hill. "You know, years of really, really hard work and that'll all pay off pretty soon. It's just a special feeling, can't wait for that opportunity. I can't wait to get to go. At the same time, we got a state championship to win. We got to go back to back at Daniel, so I'm really excited for this upcoming season but I'm even more excited for the future."

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