Clemson has had a rash of recruits both from the 2017 and 2018 classes commit in the days leading up to National Signing Day.
Clemson’s recruiting is certainly reaping the windfall that comes as a result of winning a National Title. Coming fresh off the CFP Championship, Dabo Swinney and his staff have wasted no time in going for a repeat of this past season’s success and continuing this golden age of Clemson football. Buying into his mantra of “The best is yet to come”, Swinney hasn’t been one to rest on his laurels. Clearly learning from other coaches that significantly regressed following championship seasons, Swinney and his retooled staff are making inroads to keeping Clemson among college football’s top tier programs. Nowhere is this more prescient than Clemson’s success on the recruiting trail.
2017 is a somewhat slim recruiting class, but the class average as rated by Rivals is 3.86- below only Alabama, Ohio State, and Stanford. This is due to large 2015 and 2016 recruiting classes, both of which featured more players due to more scholarships available. After this season with yet another crop of Clemson players making the jump to the NFL, 2018 should shape up to be a great class as well and already is looking to be as good or better than 2017. 2017’s class is marked by solid wide receiver recruiting yet again. The gem of this position is Oak Ridge, TN’s Tee Higgins. He had flipped to Clemson after verbally committing to Tennessee earlier in 2016, and is one of Clemson’s highest rated prospects for 2017. Add in four-star prospect from nearby Knoxville Catholic Amari Rodgers, and Clemson has yet again proven that recruiting elite wide receivers is one thing that few schools can match them. This is on top of an already impressive receiver corps that includes proven talents in Deon Cain, Hunter Renfrow, and Ray-Ray McCloud. Add in developing talents such as Trevion Thompson, Diondre Overton, and Cornell Powell, the receiver position will be stacked yet again with a staggering amount of elite talent. This makes sense, though. If you’re a high school receiver and you visit Clemson, you see players like Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins, Martavis Bryant, Adam Humphries, and soon to be Mike Williams and Artavis Scott in the NFL, it makes Clemson a very attractive destination if you want to go to the next level as a wide receiver. Swinney and Jeff Scott’s development at this position is huge; as there have been players like Hunter Renfrow that lacked high school accolades that have still gone on to have stellar careers at Clemson.
Also making for a great 2017 class are fellow five star recruits QB Hunter Johnson and CB AJ Terrell. Johnson preceded Tee Higgins in flipping from Tennessee to Clemson, and will immediately compete for the open starting quarterback position vacated by Deshaun Watson. If similar situations at other schools such as Georgia with Jacob Eason, Alabama with Jalen Hurts, Florida State with Deondre Francois, and South Carolina with Jake Bentley are any indication, then a player such as Johnson could be a possible starter for the 2017 season. Any quarterback coming with little experience should be somewhat decent; given the talented receiver corps they would be throwing to. Having Deon Cain as the undisputed #1 receiver will help whatever quarterback does end up starting, so Tiger fans should not be too anxious about Watson’s replacement. When Watson emerged as a true freshman starter, a similarly inexperienced underclassmen receiver corps outside of Charone Peake surrounded him. Even then, Peake’s early career was marred by injuries and lacked the experience that Deon Cain has going into 2017. Watson had freshman Artavis Scott, sophomore Mike Williams, and senior utility player Adam Humphries, the only other receiver with significant snap experience aside from Peake. Compare this to possible starters Kelly Bryant, Zerrick Cooper, or Hunter Johnson, their prospects look much better given that McCloud, Cain, and Renfrow are all already proven talents at the receiver position, buoyed by the incoming talent and the others in development already at Clemson.
Running back was a position that was taking some hits, given the departures of Wayne Gallman to the NFL as well as Tyshon Dye’s decision to transfer out of Clemson. CJ Fuller had a great deal of solid experience towards the end of the season, and he and sophomore Tavien Feaster should be the two players shouldering most of the rushing load going into 2017. This will be especially important if a player like Hunter Johnson ends up as the starter, as he’s a pro-style passer as opposed to the dual threat style that Watson was. However Cooper and Bryant are both cut from the same cloth as Watson, so if either of them start the offense shouldn’t change much in terms of quarterback rushes and the run-pass option that Watson executed so well. Clemson had another Tennessee recruit in Cordarrian Richardson, however he de-committed in late December. This is likely due to an academic grade changing scandal at his school, Trezevant High in Memphis. In his absence, Swinney went after Travis Etienne from Jennings High in Louisiana. Offering the LSU-favorite only two weeks before his commitment announcement, Clemson swept in and immediately took Etienne by surprise. After an official visit to the newly opened palatial Football Operations Building, Etienne announced last Friday that he was committing to Clemson. A testament to Swinney’s ability to recruit, it only took two weeks to take what was seen as an LSU lock to commit to the Tigers. This closed the gap that Richardson’s de-commitment made and shored up any concerns at running back for the Tigers.
Defensively, Justin Foster, Jordan Williams, and Le’Anthony Williams have all made solid 2017 recruitments for Clemson. If there’s any position that is nearly as solid as wide receiver for Clemson, it’s the defensive line. Even in the wake of coaching changes with Marion Hobby and Dan Brooks leaving with Todd Bates replacing them, DL appears to be a strength with depth rivaling the receiving corps. If previous seasons are any indication, Brent Venables ability to evaluate and develop defensive talent still continues to be masterful. These three will add depth to an already talented group, which includes underclassman stars Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, and Clelin Ferrell. Le’Anthony Williams’ addition to the secondary alongside Terrell will help with senior Cordrea Tankersley’s departure to the NFL. While small in numbers, all around the 2017 recruiting class is large in quality.
2018 is shaping up to an equally talented class, if not more so. Clemson recently hosted a great deal of recruits at the new Football Operations Building, and that produced some commitments from the now-rising high school junior class. Swinney has already made a splash with in-state talent, something that has typically evaded Clemson during Swinney’s term: South Carolina had the edge on in-state recruits for a long period under Steve Spurrier. Early commitments have already switched that edge to Clemson: Rock Hill South Pointe’s Derion Kendrick announced his commitment to Clemson last Saturday, again building on Clemson’s reputation as “Wide Receiver U”. Two defensive players have already committed for this class as well- Josh Belk of Richburg, South Carolina and Brent Venables’ son, Jake Venables, from Pickens County’s own DW Daniel High in neighboring Central. Belk’s commitment to Clemson is colossal. Known to have grown up being a Gamecock fan and a favorite to join South Carolina, he shocked the South Carolina faithful with his commitment to Clemson. His commitment was no doubt influenced by three factors: the 56-7 drubbing last November, Clemson’s National Championship Victory, and the competed Ops Building. This should bode well for two other players currently being fought over between Clemson and South Carolina, Xavier Thomas of Florence, SC (currently attending IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL) and Stephon Wynn of TL Hanna High School in close by Anderson. Thomas is currently the most sought-after recruit in the state since Jadeveon Clowney, and winning his commitment would pay dividends for the Clemson program. Beating out South Carolina for these players would prove that a resurgence of Gamecock football to the levels they achieved under Steve Spurrier during their five game winning streak over Clemson will likely be an uphill battle. Most Clemson fans support curb stomping the Gamecocks both on the field and on the recruiting trail, and these three signing for the Tigers would do just that. Getting the best of in-state recruits is a must for second-year coach Will Muschamp and losing Belk to Clemson stings him and the Gamecocks greatly.
Two other potential battles between Swinney and Muschamp include Laurinburg, NC’s Scotland County High recruit Zamir White as well as Clemmons, NC’s West Forsyth player KJ Henry. White is widely seen as North Carolina’s top overall recruit for 2018, and his commitment as a running back would make that position stacked for the future. Henry is another five star recruit at defensive end. Henry could make for a great tandem with Xavier Thomas, which would help deal with Christian Wilkins’ potentially early departure for the NFL should he continue the success he’s enjoyed so far as an underclassman. Both White and Henry are predicted to commit to Clemson on 247, for what it’s worth. These are all potential signings for 2018 that make for a rather bright future. On top of all this is the monster commitment from Cartersville, GA quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Ranked as 247’s #1 recruit overall for 2018, as well as #1 at both his position and in the state of Georgia, he makes for Clemson’s potentially highest ranked recruit ever. With Clemson beating out local rival Georgia for Lawrence, he’s poised to break Deshaun Watson’s passing records at the high school level. While pro-style like Hunter Johnson, Lawrence not being dual threat should not worry Tiger faithful. Given that Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott stick around for when Lawrence officially joins the Clemson squad, their ability to tailor the offense for the talent Clemson has should prove that either Johnson or Lawrence would be successful for the Tigers. Take the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl as an example. With previous OC Chad Morris departing for Southern Methodist and Deshaun Watson having ACL surgery, Elliott and Scott were given their first opportunity to call plays with only Cole Stoudt as their starter. Stoudt had previously struggled under Morris’ dual-threat system, and Elliott and Scott had a month to prepare for Oklahoma with Stoudt’s strengths in mind. Stoudt was more of a pro-style passer and ended up with over 300 passing yards, 4 total touchdowns, and 0 interceptions in that game. This was also with a rather inexperienced receiver corps, which torched Oklahoma to the tune of a 40-6 beat down in Orlando. Scott and Elliott have proven to be a lot more flexible in their offensive system and play calling, adding far more balance to the offense than Clemson had under Morris. If Tavien Feaster and Travis Etienne develop into the backs that can shoulder larger loads without as many quarterback runs as the offense had with Watson at the helm, then Lawrence or Johnson should be fine with their talents as pro-style quarterbacks. Especially with the stupidly talented receiver corps around them, they should have no problem plugging into the system at Clemson. Add in what’s likely to be a formidable defense (as long as Venables is at the helm, of course), and whether it’s Cooper, Johnson, or Lawrence, the future Clemson quarterback is likely to succeed.
All of this goes back to the top- Dabo Swinney. People remember that in 2008 when Tommy Bowden stepped down, he selected Swinney to be the interim head coach because of his recruiting ability. Even when Clemson was still a middle-tier program more famous for a meme associated with blowing games to inferior teams, he still was winning major battles in recruiting. Players such as Tajh Boyd, Sammy Watkins, and later Watson all came to Clemson before they had this reputation as one of college football’s elite programs. It was due to Swinney that they came to Clemson in the first place. Players like Boyd, Watkins, and CJ Spiller all laid the foundation for where Clemson is now. Ben Boulware famously gave these guys a shout-out after the title win against Alabama. Swinney played a large role in these guys coming to Clemson. And while Swinney mired in good-but-not-great status while losing to Florida State and South Carolina nearly every year, he still plugged away on the recruiting trail and signed players like Watson, Mike Williams, Deon Cain, Tavien Feaster, and so on. With Clemson’s success on the national stage came greater recognition outside the Southeast and Clemson’s pipeline states (NC, GA, FL, etc.) and players like Christian Wilkins came along. With the championship comes further recognition and even better recruiting, as evident in players like Hunter Johnson and the Tennessee boys jumping ship to Tigertown. That being said, Clemson fans can rest assured that Clemson’s success will not be just a flash in the pan. With Swinney at the helm, his ability to both make great hires for assistant positions and his masterful ability to recruit leaves Clemson in a solid position. They’ve made it- they’re now in the same conversation as the so-called “bluebloods” of Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Florida State. As Chris Fowler said before the championship game, Clemson is here to stay.