It’s not a well kept secret that Clemson football recruits differently than most of your more typical college football powerhouses.
The Tigers don’t offer as many players as others do, as shown by the recruitment of Arch Manning and subsequently Chris Vizzina when Manning made it clear he wasn’t going to Clemson.
Similarly, there’s some frustration among the fan base with the way the Tigers are recruiting one running back at a time after missing on their three initial offers at the position.
The Tigers also approach NIL differently than most, with some naysayers saying it’s costing Clemson higher end recruits that have come to expect pay days to attend a particular college.
I’m not saying these criticisms aren’t valid, but there comes a point when you need to come to grips with the fact that the leadership of your program is going to go about things a certain way and either accept those ways or advocate for new leadership.
Peter Woods is an example of doing things the Clemson way and winning a recruiting battle over the sports behemoth – Alabama – for a player in the Crimson Tide’s own state that grew up loving the Tide.
How often is that going to happen? Likely not as often as we’d like, but Clemson also isn’t going to “outbid” Alabama for a player of Woods’s skill in any event.
In short, being different, unique and “Clemson” was the only way Clemson was going to pull Woods from Alabama.
In recent comments to AllClemson.com Woods not only reiterated his confidence in his choice, but recognized the relationships he’s already built with the other members of this class, coach Nick Eason and also, what Clemson has to offer.
"“There will always be pressure as long as I live in the state,” Woods said. “But that doesn’t really get to me, and I’m confident in my decision. I felt like Clemson was the best fit to develop ME, on and off the field. And they had the best resources to do so.”“Me and coach Eason had a great relationship when he was recruiting me at Auburn,” Woods said. “That relationship just strengthened when he ended up at a place that was best fitted for me.”"
Peter Wood’s commitment to Clemson over Alabama is reminiscent of the program changing commitment of C.J. Spiller
There will be players that go other places because of the way Clemson recruits and more importantly these days – handles NIL – make no mistake. It’s easy for me to say “you don’t want those players anyway”, but that’s not true, at least not with all of them.
Peter Woods has shown that it’s OK to be a 5 star from Alabama and take a different path, even in the era of NIL, when he could have named his price. Other recruits will take notice.
Much like C.J. Spiller’s decision to attend Clemson, Woods’ decision is one that may impact the Clemson program far longer than the three or four years he’s on campus.