JUCO CB Darius McClendon Pledges to FAU Class of 2023


Darius McClendon
CB
6-2, 185 lbs
New Mexico Military Academy

The first fruits for FAU Football's record size official recruiting weekend are in as Darius McLendon announced his decision to join Coach Tom Herman and staff in their vision to return to Championship levels.

McClendon was offered by the Owls on September 21, 2022 and was primarily recruited by Brandon Harris.

He originally played at MTSU before enrolling at New Mexico Military Academy after two seasons. He took a redshirt his true freshman year, but still saw action in three contests.

He later suited up at safety in all nine games during the Covid-19 shortened 2020 season for the Blue Raiders and netted eight tackles while grading out a winner seven times and playing 121 total snaps.

His eight game highlights for this season at NMA are below:



McClendon is now the 15th member of the 2023 class for the Owls, joining those listed below:

Gulliver Prep DB Antonio Smith

McEachern OL Ovie Dubre

Jones DB Chris Tooley

Dougherty DE Stantavious Smith

Clewiston DB Preston Thompson

Dillard WR AJ Jenkins

Booker T Washington Safety Fabian Scott

Seminole QB Luke Rucker

Roswell TE Zeke Moore

St. Thomas Aquinas RB Xavier Terrell

Venice TE Fin Jones

Jones WR Jabari Smith

Clearwater OLB Curtis Roberts

Aquinas RB Gemari Sands

Very nice, welcome to the Owls young man!

Love how you keep your eyes on the qb and play the ball and not just chase the receiver!

Is it too soon to know how many scholarships we have available this year?
I know the graduating senior class was only around 10 players, so there must be anticipation of players leaving for one reason or another to be able to offer this many.

FAU was in his top four back in 2020. I think I watched him play in 2019 when he was at Forest Hill. Heard nothing but great things about him as a person, and he was a heck of a player, too. Rooting for him to thrive here!