Four-star safety Blake Stewart has decommitted from Clemson, he announced on Monday with Rivals’ Hayes Fawcett.
Stewart had been pledged to the Tigers since July 13, when the Woodward Academy (Ga.) standout chose Clemson over offers from Miami, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Texas and dozens of other programs.
Recently though, he has started to look around at other programs after the Tigers’ slow start this season. According to Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong, Stewart was on campus at Vanderbilt for its win over Missouri on Saturday, and the Commodores are pushing hard to get him in their class.
Georgia Tech, meanwhile, had him on campus for its game against Clemson, and another ACC stalwart — Miami — has been a longtime contender for him.
Georgia and Alabama are two schools who have been in contact as well.
Stewart is the No. 393 overall prospect in the 2026 class, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting services. He also ranks as the nation’s No. 35 safety and No. 44 recruit in the Peach State.
He becomes the second decommitment of the fall for Dabo Swinney and Co., who are off to a 3-4 start in the midst of a season that had College Football Playoff expectations. Four-star EDGE Dre Quinn, also a Georgia native, decommitted from Clemson last month.
Since then, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas and others have jumped to the forefront of his recruitment. Clemson, meanwhile, still has a top-20 recruiting class and a pair of top-100 commits in wide receiver Naeem Burroughs and safety Kentavion Anderson.
In total, the Tigers’ class features double-digit blue-chip pledges, but plenty of schools will look to poach those prospects in the final weeks before National Signing Day amidst a disappointing season.