Claudin Cherelus

Cherelus was born on February 9, 1999, and is of Haitian descent.^[1][2] He started playing football in eighth grade and then played three varsity seasons at Golden Gate High School, near Naples, Florida.^[2][3] Cherelus played linebacker and safety and twice earned all-conference honors at Golden Gate while also being a team captain.^[2][3][4] He initially committed to play college football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, but instead ended up joining the UMass Minutemen after Minnesota retracted their scholarship offer.^[3][5]

Cherelus redshirted his true freshman year at UMass, 2017.^[3] The following year, he played in all 12 games and posted 14 tackles.^[4] In 2019, Cherelus appeared in 11 games as a reserve and totaled 39 tackles along with a sack.^[4] He opted to transfer to play for the Alcorn State Braves in 2020, although they did not play that year due to COVID-19.^[6][7] Cherelus became a starter for Alcorn State in 2021 and recorded 76 tackles, 11 tackles-for-loss and two sacks.^[8] In his final season, he played nine games and tallied 73 tackles, 14.5 tackles-for-loss, six sacks and an interception on his way to being named second-team all-conference.^[3][9] He was invited after the season to the HBCU Legacy Bowl, an all-star game for players from historically black schools.^[3]