Bennett Cornerback De’Mari Clemons De’Mari Clemons 5'11" | 160 lbs | DB Massillon Washington | 2026 State OH possesses tremendous athleticism and is blessed with phenomenal awareness on the field. He is excellent in man to man coverage or in zone. Clemons plays smart and his football intuition is off the charts; with 4 interceptions and 17 passesses defensed in his 2 year varsity career. I usually like to cover athletes that tend to fly under the radar but when talking about top Defensive Backs in Western New York, I would be amiss to leave out De’Mari Clemons De’Mari Clemons 5'11" | 160 lbs | DB Massillon Washington | 2026 State OH . He is the number 1 ranked DB in New York State and should be considered a power 5 recruit.

While one top talent resides in Long Island, the other resides all the way in Western New York where De’Mari Clemons De’Mari Clemons 5'11" | 160 lbs | DB Massillon Washington | 2026 State OH has made waves amongst P5 schools in the Northeast. The talented freshman DB was a key defender in Bennett’s state championship run and Clemons shows some really dominant athleticism and coverage skills on tape. Clemons also has the ability to play some top NY competition where former teammate and current teammate Jayden Lewis Jayden Lewis 6'0" | 190 lbs | ATH Bennett | 2023 State NY and Ja’Meer Thomas Ja’Meer Thomas 5'10" | 170 lbs | WR Bennett | 2024 State NY give him some of New Yorks most dangerous offensive weapons to go against on the day-to-day. Clemons has room to grow in his game which makes him having several P5 offers and interest even more impressive. Added more physical strength and press coverage ability would really round out his skills as a corner. Clemons in a normal year would be good enough to be the #1 in New York but this freshman class is very very top heavy. Also, I would not be surprised to see Clemons or Carey leave New York just like Ellis Robinson IV did after his sophomore year at Iona Prep.

2026 #2 overall, De’Mari Clemons De’Mari Clemons 5'11" | 160 lbs | DB Massillon Washington | 2026 State OH picked up recent offers from West Virginia and UConn to add to his long list of DI oppurtunities.

De’Mari Clemons De’Mari Clemons 5'11" | 160 lbs | DB Massillon Washington | 2026 State OH is up to 7 offers after sitting on Syracuse and Buffalo for a little bit just in the past couple months Clemons has gotten offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Akron, Pittsburgh, and Penn State. The Freshman cornerback is one of the top 2026 prospects in New York and is already getting some national attention from top FBS programs.

Mr. Camp Season 2022 stock riser from New York outside of PJ Carey from St. Anthony’s had to be De’Mari Clemons De’Mari Clemons 5'11" | 160 lbs | DB Massillon Washington | 2026 State OH hand down. The 2026 NY Defensive Back was the FBU Columbus MVP, The UC Report NJ DB MVP, NXGN Cleveland DB MVP, Prep Red Zone Next NJ DB MVP. All of that helped Clemons rack up two early offers from Syracuse and Buffalo. He rode that momentum to starting every game he played in during the 2022 season for a State Championship winner and amassed All-WNY honors. Post season Clemons played in the FBU Adidas Freshman All-American game where he was tasked with covering Malachi Toney of American Heritage (FL) who’s regarded as the top WR in the 2026 cycle. Clemons held his own and made plays.

Good size early on

Above average footwork

Advanced Position Technique Knowledge

Twitchy and Bouncy

Good Length

Above average make up Speed

Good lateral movement

Uses hands well in press coverage

Needs to make more plays on the ball (more INTs)

Solid tackler, that’s not afraid to mix it up with bigger RBs, WRs or pulling OL

This off-season De’Mari has been training in Buffalo,NY and flying to Atlanta to train with the likes of Oliver Davis who’s a DB training goat who has a roster of players currently in the NFL and all over college football and high school football. Clemons is also on the radar of some the top private high schools in the country and recently picked up a huge offer from Penn State this month. With that offer coming from PSU you can expect Clemons recruiting profile to continue to rise and by this time next year should be a certified national recruit and one of the tops at his position.

De’Mari Clemons De’Mari Clemons 5'11" | 160 lbs | DB Massillon Washington | 2026 State OH picked up offers from Syracuse and Buffalo which is a huge reason he makes this list. Clemons is a willing tackler and really solid cover corner. As time goes on he needs to fill out his frame as he is only 155 pounds but no Freshman made more noise this offseason and early season than Clemons did. He not only plays a fair amount for Bennett but he plays against high level competition in high leverage games as a Freshman. Right now Clemons is showing the skills but more development could be the key to him gaining interest outside of New York State.