Re: Signing Day 2008

B-Meist® · 2008-02-06T12:02:00.595Z

Signing Day 2008 Check back all day on Wednesday to see the latest on Clemson's 2008 recruiting class. Full Story »

Razzmatazz

Game Changer [1816]

TigerPulse: 67%

Posts: 3484

Joined: 2007

Feb 6, 2008, 4:01 PM

Bowden's crew has done another good job of recruiting. Interestingly, lately it's the ACC schools that consistently bring in lower-ranked classes that have been keeping Clemson from the ACC title (Wake, BC, & VT), not the ACC's traditional top recruiters (FSU & Miami). I think that indicates that Bowden tends to achieve less with more, and that he isn't as good of a coach as Beamer, Grobe, O'Brien, and maybe Jagodinski. But I'm ever hopeful that Bowden's crew will prove me wrong.

Many Bowden apologists say Clemson can't win a national title because SC is a small rural state with little football talent. I think the last two recruiting classes show how wrong they are. (Not to mention that Clemson won the national title in 1981). Clemson not only signed top-ranked talent in-state and out-of-state, but Clemson also lost some nationally ranked in-state recruits like AJ Green (to UGA). Furthermore, NFLHS.com (which tracks the home states of NFL players) shows that SC ranks #10 in number of native sons playing in the NFL. And unlike FL, NC and other talent-laden states, South Carolina doesn't have to split its football talent among several in-state I-A football schools.

There was an interesting analysis in SI.com regarding the recruiting class rankings by league over recent years. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/02/04/sec.recruiting/index.html The SEC consistently ranks #1 and (somewhat surprisingly) the ACC ranks #2. Also interestingly, the ACC has had more 1st round NFL draft picks than the SEC in recent years. (The author attributes the ACC's poor performance to weak coaching.)

Apparently negative posts on TigerNet have no adverse affect on the decisions of recruits. What a surprise.

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Hunter61: On signing day, I was glued to ESPN and the recruiting web sites, and I'm really excited about this recruiting class-- which is a great follow-up to last year's solid class. I was thinking, "Wow, maybe we can finally beat the teams that have been keeping us out of the ACC title for the last few year (VT, BC, & WF)." So I started researching how our recruiting classes stacked up against those teams' over the last few years. And I learned that we already have been out-recruiting those teams. I thought people might be interested in that counter-intuitive observation. I hope my rather obvious conclusion about coaching talent didn't ruin anyone's day. I did say that I'm hopeful. And you have no idea how ridiculously optimistic I am year after year.

My point about AJ Green was not that the coaching staff screwed up by letting him get away. My point was that Clemson can let a few in-state stars get away and STILL be able to land championship-caliber recruiting classes--even though Clemson is located in the supposedly talent-poor, rural state of SC. I hoped to raise expectations, not depress them.

You wrote, "Funny thing is that you just can't seem to get excited about what happened today. It's just sad." Maybe I drew an incorrect inference, but I don't see a difference between "It's just sad," and "You're just sad." So I found it insulting. You say that you meant no insult, so I'll take you at your word.

Signing Day 2008

Richt reminds you of Proctor???

William DEVINE???***

Thank you...***

Re: William DEVINE???***

Re: William DEVINE???***