WATCH: Ray-Ray McCloud III drops little brother, Kobe, at Clemson after long drive
Former Clemson Tiger and new San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud played chauffeur this weekend for his younger brother Kobe McCloud, a 2022 signee who just enrolled for the summer semester. The duo drove more than eight hours from Florida to South Carolina, sharing a message for Clemson fans upon their arrival.
Ray-Ray McCloud, a 2018 sixth-round draft pick for the Buffalo Bills, is newly out of free agency after signing a two-year, $10.4 million deal with the 49ers this offseason. He was with the Pittsburgh Steelers for two seasons and Carolina for one in 2019. He posted 36 catches and handled all kick returning duties in 2021.
Kobe McCloud, a three-star linebacker prospect, hails from Gaither High in Tampa, Florida.
How Kobe McCloud landed at Clemson
Kobe McCloud’s father Ray McCloud reached out to Dabo Swinney in the fall, asking for an honest evaluation of Kobe as a player.
Kobe was committed to FIU at the time but was getting some interest from bigger schools, and Ray wanted to know what the best path for his son might be.
“He wanted to get just a true evaluation of Kobe. So I told Brent [Venables], ‘Hey, give me a good evaluation on what you think. Because I want to try to give them some good direction here,’” Swinney recalled. “I sent it to Brent, and Brent wrote up a great eval on him and really liked him a lot. [Said] that if we didn’t get one of those guys [we were recruiting], this guy can play.”
Weeks later, upon hearing that McCloud opted to wait to sign, Swinney went back and watched Kobe’s film again. He then passed it along to new Tigers defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin, who replaced Brent Venables in December.
“Wes’s response was exactly the same [as Brent’s],” Swinney said. “He was blown away by him.”
Kobe was offered by Clemson on Jan. 9, committed to Clemson on Jan. 26 and signed with the Tigers on Feb. 2.
“He’s a really good player,” Swinney said. “He is from, as y’all know, a football family. He’s a tough kid … a really, really good kid. Great family. So just kind of neat how that worked out.”
On3’s Matt Connolly contributed to this report.