With the potential final piece of Clemson’s 2027 class coming this Friday in four-star safety Seth Williams, most of the staff’s attention has now shifted towards the next cycle of recruits.That said, on Monday afternoon, it was announced that Calhoun (Ga.) quarterback Trace Hawkins will be making his collegiate decision on Thursday, July 30, and the Tigers are already a clear favorite at the helm of his recruitment.The news comes just six days after he released his top six schools, which included Clemson, LSU, Duke, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Kentucky. Hawkins is rated a four-star prospect and ranks as the No. 256 overall player, the No. 18 player at his position and the No. 34 recruit in the state of Georgia, according to the Rivals recruiting rankings.— Rivals (@Rivals) July 27, 2026Initially, Hawkins was planning to commit sometime in September or October; however, after visiting each of his finalists over the past few months — except Kentucky — and talking with his mother about what he wants to do, he’s now set to be one of the first blue-chip 2028 quarterbacks off the board.As mentioned, Clemson is the front-runner by a fair margin, as six different experts have already submitted their predictions in favor of the Tigers. Those experts include On3’s Chad Simmons, Paul Strelow and Sam Spiegelman, as well as 247Sports’ Cory Fravel, Benjamin Wolk and Austin Hannon.The predictions don’t come as too far of a surprise, as Hawkins has been one of Clemson’s top targets in his respective class since last summer when he first arrived for the annual Dabo Swinney Football Camp. Since then, he’s returned to campus four times, including twice this past spring.Not to mention, the Tigers always make sure to emphasize landing a quarterback as early as possible in each cycle, with freshman Tait Reynolds having been the first commit in the 2026 class and 2027 commit Kharim Hughley having been the second commit in his respective class behind only linebacker Max Brown, who is the brother of Sammy Brown.With Hawkins now likely to be Clemson’s sole quarterback acquisition in the 2028 class, that also means three-star dual-threat Trey Wright is essentially out of the picture. Wright recently released his Top 12 and included the Tigers among the bunch, with him even earning a prediction to land with the program.But, like we’ve seen with other recruits in past and current cycles, these types of circumstances come down to the timing of it all, and Hawkins looks to be the first to the punch with his commitment looming.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow