Thursday June 28, 2007
| |||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Thursday June 28, 2007
National Running Back Rankings Clemson Running Back Recruiting The second Clemson signee at this position should come from a highly touted group of prospects that includes names like Jamie Harper, Dontavious Jackson, Chris Jordan, Averian Collier, Michael Shaw, Ryan Williams, Eric Smith and Martin Ward.
Harper is a big back with great speed. The Jacksonville, FL native favors Clemson and Florida State over Florida and South Carolina. He is perhaps the top back on Clemson’s board. Observers in Georgia compare Jackson to James Davis. The Franklin, GA native currently favors Clemson and Alabama over Georgia and LSU. Jordan is a back that is also being recruited by some as a linebacker. He has the Tigers in his list of top five or so that also includes Tennessee, Alabama, Aubrun and Georgia. Curtis is among the best backs in the country but he is favoring his home state school, Arkansas. Collier is a great back from New York but he is far from narrowing his list. Ward is a former Georgia commitment but the Jonesboro, GA back has opened up his recruiting and Clemson, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida have offered. The Tigers have positioned themselves well to ink one of these terrific backs in February. The combination of Ellington and another top notch back would continue the Tigers recent success in recruiting great ones at this position. The Turning Point Davis took a chance and signed with Clemson without proof the Tigers would actually run the ball. Many players are told what coaches want to do in the future but it is much easier to show them rather than tell them. Davis took Spence, Bowden and Burn’s word and one could argue that this was the turning point in the running game. Davis had the big year as a freshman and I maintain that Clemson would not have been able to sign Spiller. In 2004 Clemson rushed for 103 yards per game. The next season was Spence and Davis’ first in Clemson and improved to 153 yards per contest. Last season Spiller joined the crowd and the Tigers averaged 218 yards per game. These numbers and the success of Davis and Spiller are the main reasons the Tigers are able to become involved with backs like Ellington, Harper, Jackson and others. Four years ago they would have had a hard time getting serious looks from players of this caliber at running back. Sears Cup In my opinion many of the sports at Clemson are on solid footing but a couple need to get back to the form they enjoyed a few years ago. No one is satisfied with 8-5 in football. The women’s basketball program has fallen to new lows and the once-proud women’s track and field program has become one of the worst in the ACC in the last three or four years. Texting
The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Account Settings | TigerActive Chat | TigerNet Forums | Tiger Tickets | T-Mail
Please mail any comments, corrections or suggestions
Disclaimer and Privacy Statement Copyright © 1995-2010 TigerNet
Interested in advertising on TigerNet?
Mickey,
I enjoy your blogs, but I need some help here understanding your selection of Stewart as the #2 back in the nation. This guy looks like a Greek god and has some very nice measurables, but his production doesn't live up to the hype at all. Despite the fact that he's playing in a conference not known for its defenses, Stewart has yet to even accumulate 1000 yards in a season while being Oregon's feature back. Most of the other backs on your list have either dwarfed his production or been in situations where they had to share carries with other top drawer backs while still compiling similar production.
Sorry to nitpick, man, but I've been hearing about Stewart for a couple of years since he was a blue chip recruit. His production just hasn't matched all of the talk to this point in his career.
Posted by <a href=http://tigernet.com/view/profile.do?id=21352>tboonpickens</a> on June 28, 2007 at 04:20 PM EDT #
The ban should stay in effect. Texting from a coach to a player is tantamount to a coach from the opposing team standing next to the player on the sidelines.
Posted by <a href=http://tigernet.com/view/profile.do?id=758>Shlomo</a> on June 28, 2007 at 07:13 PM EDT #
tboonpickens,
You make a very valid point about Stewart. He played very little as a freshman and was not the focus of the offense last year when he gained over 900 yards. I admit that the only time I have seen him for the entire game was the Oklahoma game last year and he looked fantastic and had about 150 yards if my memory is correct. The fact is that this is like Matthew Staford and Josh Freeman in that they are projections for this year rather than going on their merits of the past year. Still a great point on your part. Your comment was insightful and welcomed.
Posted by <a href=http://tigernet.com/view/profile.do?id=1550>Mickey Plyler</a> on June 29, 2007 at 01:23 PM EDT #
Love your blog Mickey. Just wanted to say that somehow you omitted Eric Smith in your discussion of rb recruits and his favorite two at this point. They just so happen to be CLEMSON & Fla. Sound familiar!?! Maybe he won't be here for long enough to get a lot of playing time with our other Fla steal, but it should be nice to see him in the backfield with another similar back in Ellington. Not to take anything at all away from CJ or James, but a big bruising back to put on the field at the same time would sure open some huge holes and keep some lb's on their heels. Just my 2 cents, and thanks for yours. I look forward to 'em everyday.
Posted by <a href=http://tigernet.com/view/profile.do?id=58509>ProudTigerPaw</a> on July 01, 2007 at 07:39 PM EDT #