Thursday July 06, 2006

Cloy’s Commitment; Clemson Back in Louisiana; Faris Signs; SEC Defensive Line Rankings

Cloy’s Commitment

Mason Cloy of Spring Valley High School in Columbia, SC announced his commitment to the Tigers earlier this week and I think this is great news for Brad Scott and the Tigers.

At the Greenville County Clemson Club golf tournament in June I had a chance to speak with Coach Scott about his offensive line. We talked about his current linemen and what he likes in offensive line prospects. Scott told me he looked for everything that all schools do like height, frame, quickness, flexibility, mobility and strength. He said he liked all of the five-star types that everyone else does. But Scott added that he looks for toughness to separate great ones from good ones and good ones from average ones. He told me intelligence and toughness are the difference in the three-year starter and the guy that never lives up to his potential.

Scott will love his four offensive line prospects the Tigers have commitments from so far this year. Cloy is an interior lineman that could play center in Tigertown. He has very good quickness and athletic ability. He was the top interior offensive lineman on Clemson’s board after the staff was saw his impressive film against his high school’s arch rival Richland Northeast. In that game Cloy dominated Michigan signee Adam Paterson. The first film Clemson had was good but this film was great. After the staff saw that film and got a good read from Cloy, they began to drop other center prospects like Travis Pugh.

The other interior offensive lineman is another example of what Scott is looking for. Some schools were not ready to offer Wilson Norris before he committed to Clemson but the Tigers had him camp the year before and were familiar with his toughness. Norris is a good run blocker who has a nasty streak.

Clemson has two offensive tackle commitments and both are upgrades in talent. The staff actually got a little lucky with Landon Walker. Clemson’s staff wanted another lineman from North Carolina as their first choice but he committed to another SEC school. The staff then turned to Walker who really out played the other prospect at a Shrine Bowl combine a few weeks later. I talked to two coaches who were there at the combine and both said it was not close between the two prospects. They said Walker was the much better player. One said the Tigers actually got a little lucky when they got “the best of the two.”

I have seen David Smith play on a couple of occasions and love his athleticism. He moves his feet very well and has good flexibility. Smith reminds Greenville High School coaches of Corey Lambert but I think he is a better football player than Lambert. I also think he is tougher than Lambert at this stage.

Clemson will take one more offensive linemen in this class. It will be a tackle prospect with Chris Little of Jeffersonville, GA at the top of the board. The one thing that is certain is the last offensive line commitment will be a tough player if Brad Scott has anything to do with it.

Bowden began to rebuild this program when he hired David Blackwell. Blackwell and Bowden went to Oklahoma for a spring practice and came back with the idea of signing more big bodies. Blackwell’s emphasis as the recruiting coordinator has been on linemen and it now shows. This most recent class of offensive linemen continues to upgrade this up and coming program.

Clemson Back in Louisiana

The Clemson staff has improved tremendously in terms of recruiting in the last two seasons. The addition of Billy Nappier and Chris Rumph has allowed New Orleans native Burton Burns to get back into Louisiana this season. Last year Burns wanted to get back to some fertile recruiting grounds but Hurricane Katrina made it almost impossible to find relocated players.

This year the staff entertained several very good prospects from Louisiana in their camps. One player who did not make it to camp but Burns has worked extremely hard is Joe McKnight. This athlete is one of the top 50 prospects in the country. He is from John Curtis High School in River Ridge, LA. McKnight has offers from LSU, Southern Cal, Alabama, Florida, FSU, Miami and about 50 others but Clemson is in the game with this All-American. It is a long shot but Burns has a great relationship with many high school coaches in the state and I expect the Tigers to be a factor there for the next few years.

We will have more recruiting coverage next week and will have all of the Clemson commitments on the radio show before their season begins. With 10 early commitments, the staff is almost half way through this class.

Faris Signs

Stephen Faris will not be back to Clemson next season but last week’s great news about Andy D’Alessio was exactly what this team needed. If given a choice between the two, give me D’Alessio. I thought it might turn out the way it did which was great news for Leggett’s group.

SEC Defensive Line Rankings

1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. LSU
4. Auburn
5. Arkansas
6. Tennessee
7. Alabama
8. Mississippi State
9. South Carolina
10. Ole Miss
11. Vanderbilt
12. Kentucky

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