TOWN OF TONAWANDA — With his uncle Jim watching over his shoulder, Chad Kelly officially became a Clemson Tiger, signing his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday at St. Joe’s.

The Marauders quarterback was flanked by his mother Charlene, brother Casey and father Kevin, as well his grandparents, St. Joe’s coach Dennis Gilbert and Hall of Fame uncle, Jim Kelly as the ceremonial signing.

Kelly said that he was one of the first Clemson commits to fax over his signed letter of intent Wednesday morning.

Ever since I was a a little kid I was like, ‘I want to play Division I football and have my parents not have to pay to go to college,’” he said after uncle Jim cheerfully handed him a Clemson Tigers hat. “This is a dream come true and it’s a reality now, so I’m just very thankful.”

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback verbally committed to play at Clemson in June before his senior season at St. Joe’s in which he garnered New York State Sportswriters Association Class AA Player of the Year honors.

Kelly also won the Connolly Cup and was the only player from New York to participate in the Under Armour All-America game on Jan. 5 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

He was named the Tonawanda News Player of the Year as well for shattering the Western New York single-season record for passing with 3,050 yards to go along with 991 yards rushing.

Fresh off a surprise Atlantic Coast Conference title, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney snagged another highly-rated recruiting class as he tries to rebuild the Tigers into a national power from the bottom up.

Clemson signed 20 players Wednesday in a class that hovered around the top 10 in most of the rankings. Swinney signed a similarly ranked class last year, and the coach bragged that just like he won the school’s first ACC title in two decades last season, he now also had the first back-to-back top 10 classes since the late 1980s too.

The Tigers should go into next season with 60 of its 85 scholarship players either freshmen or sophomores and just 11 of them seniors

“It’s really exciting to me because we are built to make a run,” Swinney said, according to The Associated Press.

Kelly is perhaps the most interesting recruit Clemson signed. Kelly took to Twitter last week to issue a challenge to the other backup QBs for the Tigers, saying he was coming to play as a freshman and wasn’t going to be satisfied sitting on the bench, prompting second-string quarterback Cole Stoudt to respond that he didn’t appreciate people talking before they did anything on the field.

Swinney said he doesn’t use Twitter, but another coach told him about the exchange. He shrugged it off, calling it nothing serious and saying he likes Kelly’s swagger.

While Swinney mentioned last year’s ACC title several times, not a single word was said about the Tigers 70-33 loss in the Orange Bowl to West Virginia. Instead, Swinney spoke about building a program that competes nationally both for recruits and on the field.

Clemson signed 10 defensive players, nine players on offense and a punter. Four signees were on the offensive line, and four were on the defensive lines, both big needs for the Tigers. With such a youthful team, Swinney expects at least some of the newcomers to get on the field quickly.

“They’re talented. They are the right kind of guys,” Swinney said. “We just have to grow them up.”

This year’s signing day was much less dramatic than last year’s, as 17 of Clemson’s 20 recruits had agreed to come before the 2011 season kicked off.