This Weekend Huge for Tigers (Updated) |
CLEMSON – The next few days will tell the story of the 2003 recruiting class
for the Tigers. In total Clemson will host close to 35 prospects this weekend including 12 of the top 15 prospects from South Carolina. Why would Clemson select January 10th to spend close to 40 of their allowed 56 visits with three more recruiting weekends to go before National Signing Day on February 5th? There are several advantages to this weekend according to recruiting analyst Mickey Plyler. “The first weekend after a dead period, coaches can call prospects visiting on the weekend of the 10th an unlimited amount of times up to the visit,” said Plyler. “If the players were not visiting on the 10th only one call a week is permitted.” Another advantage according to Plyler is the recent trend of prospects committing early. “In the old days you wanted the last visit,” said Plyler. “But recently the trend with kids is they really don’t take all their visits anymore due to pressure, so most schools this year will shoot for the weekends of the 10th or 17th." Clemson will also have all their current commitments visiting this weekend to help in the recruiting process. "Often your commitments and current players are your best recruiters," said Plyler. Clemson has had success with the very large recruiting weekend the last 2 years. Plyler says this is due to the organization of Clemson’s recruiting coordinator Rick Stockstill. “Rick Stockstill has every thing super-organized,“ said Plyler. “Their itinerary is planned down to the minute for the whole weekend.” Some adjustments, however, are necessary due to the large numbers of visits. For example, usually the head coach will meet with prospects on Sunday before they leave, but Tommy Bowden will meet with prospects starting on Friday and throughout Saturday as well. The following is a list of prospects visiting on this weekend. Official visits are often added or removed up to the last minute so this list will be updated as more information becomes available. January 10th visits 1 WR Terrell Allen 6-0 185 Byrnes (SC #11) 2 ATH C.J. Gaddis* 6-1 197 Raeford, NC 3 LB Marcus Howard 6-2 210 Hanahan (SC #4) 4 LB Maurice Nelson 6-2 205 Crestwood (SC #7) 5 RB Andre Calendar 6-0 190 West Orange, NJ 6 DB Keenan Little 6-1 183 Shelby, NC 7 ATH Sergio Gilliam* 6-3 175 Greer (SC #14) 8 QB Syvelle Newton 6-2 212 Marlboro Co (SC #3) 9 LB Dominic Cooper 6-4 213 New Orleans, LA 10 RB Rodney Kinlaw 5-10 180 Stratford (SC #9) 11 OL Clint LaTray* 6-3 285 Allen, TX 12 OL David Overmyer 6-4 270 Lilburn, GA 13 OL Marion Dukes* 6-4 290 Pickens, SC (SC #8) 14 RB Tramaine Billie 6-1 190 Dreher (SC #10) 15 PK Jad Dean* 5-11 190 Greenwood (SC #19) 16 OL Christian Capote 6-5 291 Miami 17 DE Kwam Williams 6-4 225 Atlanta 18 OL Brandon Pilgrim* 6-5 280 Lilburn, GA 19 DE Darryl Melvin 6-5 240 Nassau JC 20 WR Chris Jefferson 6-2 170 Morganton, NC 21 WR Brandon Allen 6-5 190 Atlanta, GA 22 RB Brandon Nolen 5-11 185 Old Bridge, NJ 23 OL Woodly Telfort 6-8 310 Dodge City, KS 24 OL Ken Shackleford 6-5 290 Villa Rica, GA 25 DL Anthony McDaniel 6-6 265 Columbia (SC #6) 26 DB Philip Brown 5-11 185 Hampton, VA 27 DB Brian Staley 5-10 170 Ga Military JC 28 DL D.J. Ernst 6-2 265 West Monroe, LA 29 LB Nick Watkins 6-2 215 New Orleans, LA 30 WR Noah Whiteside 6-0 175 Greenville (SC #5) 31 LB Ryan Brown 6-2 240 Berkeley (SC #12) 32 OL Eric Young 6-6 270 Union (SC #2) 33 LB Michael Heard 6-4 220 Lovejoy, GA 34 DE Kenny Price 6-5 300 Virginia Beach, VA * - Current Clemson commitment (SC #?) - Mickey Plyler's South Carolina Ranking Scheduled to visit but will reschedule 1 DE Omar Savage 6-5 230 Piscataway, NJ 2 OL Mario Henderson 6-7 331 Lehigh, FL 3 LB David Hines 6-2 210 Suwanee, GA 4 DB Kareem Taylor 5-11 195 Fork Union Military 5 DB Robert Reese 6-0 180 Temple, GA 6 DL Eric Thomas 6-3 270 Lake City, FL
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