The Clemson football program has seemingly been left for dead by many analysts and fans.
The Tigers don’t carry the same amount of ‘shine’ as they have in the past heading into this preseason as several analysts have already given their opinion that they won’t be in the CFB Playoff and won’t come away with over Georgia to begin the 2021 season.
Much of this has stemmed from the last two CFB Playoff appearances for Clemson, where the Tigers were blown out by a historically-great LSU team in the National Championship in the 2019 season and then they were beaten soundly by perhaps the most motivated Ohio State team that we’ve seen in years this past January in the semifinals.
In addition to the disappointing postseason losses, people point to Clemson’s recruiting woes- the Tigers lost out on a few targets earlier this spring and were even ranked outside the top-30 by many recruiting services- but things are starting to trend back in the right direction.
It seems Clemson football isn’t ‘dead’ after all
Ever since the NCAA Dead Period ended, things have picked up in a big way for the Tigers.
Clemson received commitments from two of its top targets this week in 4-star CB Toriano Pride and 4-star S Sherrod Covil and there could be more coming in the near future.
The Tigers hosted their first annual Elite Retreat and it was a huge success. They’ve had countless 5-star after countless 5-star on campus since the dead period ended- including 2023 5-star Arch Manning, who many recruiting analysts think Clemson leads for– and all of a sudden the momentum and brand power of the paw is starting to show itself again.
It’s easy to look at a few blunders or disappointing losses and believe that a program’s time in sun has come to an end, but it seems that belief will be anything but the truth.
This 2021 Clemson football team is as motivated as ever to prove the naysayers wrong and all those who are turning their back on the Tigers might very well need to rethink that sentiment before it’s all said and done.