Toriano

Pride Jr.

Pride (5'10"/185) spent two seasons apiece at Clemson and Missouri, playing outside cornerback despite his diminutive size. He has never missed a game due to injury. He totaled 24 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, six passes defended and two interceptions last year. Pride’s 4.32-second 40 tied for the sixth-fastest at the NFL Scouting Combine this year. He notably played on special teams all four years.

Clemson just keeps pegging high profile recruits, as Pride (5'11/172) is considered the 10th cornerback and second overall prospect in Missouri from the 2022 prep cycle. He carries 27 offers including overtures from Ohio State, Oregon, Alabama and Auburn, Georgia, Michigan, Iowa State and Oklahoma. The St. Louis, MO native also ran track and posted a 7.13 60-meter dash in February of 2020 and played both RB and WR in high school.

The Missouri and Clemson visits look to be unofficial trips, the other three officials, per 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong. The 5-foot-11, 183-pound Pride said that he is just about ready to commit. These trips should help to clarify his mental hierarchy and a July pledge could very much be in play, here. As a player, Pride already shows an impressive blend of foot speed and lateral movement -- he has range to spare -- while slotting onto the 247Sports composite board as the No. 180 overall prospect in the 2022 class.

Pride (5'11/183) working with a number of big boy contenders, here. He has visited the campuses of both Clemson and Missouri to date. Mizzou, by the by, might seem like a relatively small fish in this pond, but they are also the home state program for the St. Louis native and could get a few bonus points for proximity depending on what Pride values most as he sorts through his offers. He said that he has been to Missouri’s campus a “million times,” so there’s that. Pride plans on taking full advantage of his five official visits and does not plan on making a pledge prior to those trips. The tricky angle on all of this is that the current pandemic-forced dead period from the NCAA is set to last until the end of May, at least. Hopefully by that point in time, the spread of the virus will truly be on the downswing as more and more people receive their vaccinations, which in turn would theoretically lead to some loosening of restrictions when it comes to face-to-face official visits and the like. Rivals ranks Pride as the No. 183 overall prospect in the 2022 class.