Another Huge Step

by Mickey Plyler - Radio Host - Tue Feb 02 10:38:52 GMT-04:00 2016

Another Huge Step

Clemson staff will sign yet another highly ranked recruiting class which is another step in building this elite program. Perhaps the best compliment you can give this class is that it looks a lot like the last three that Dabo and his staff have inked.

As of Tuesday morning Clemson has 18 commitments and is ranked eighth in the country according to rivals.com.

Clemson currently has three five star commitments in Shaq Smith, Tre Lamar and Dexter Lawrence. There are eight four stars including Zerrick Cooper, Tavien Feaster, T.J. Chase, Cornell Powell, Diondre Overton, Sean Pollard, Xavier Kelly and Nyles Pickney.

The Tigers have four top 100 players according to rivals. Lawrence is ranked second, Smith is sixth, Lamar is 16th and Powell is 36th. Clemson has seven more top 250 commitments in Feaster(102), Chase (115), Kelly (141), Pollard (177), Pickney (196), Cooper (230), and Overton (234).

This class could move into the top five with additions like the nation's number one player Rashan Gary, who has narrowed his choices down to Clemson and Michigan.

Perhaps the other major news that could come out of signing day is the idea of even more commitments to the Class of 2017. The staff has positioned itself to sign of of the country's top classes in 366 days.

This 2016 class helps in so many areas. Cooper is a terrific passer who fits right in with the current level of talent at his position. Feaster joins Wayne Gallman and Adam Choice to give the Tigers a great group of running backs. Powell, Chase and Overton make the nation's top wide receiver corps even deeper. J.C. Chalk is a talented tight end that looks like the great group he joins already on campus. The offensive line got better when a headliner like Pollard committed. Kelly is a freak athlete that will get an early look at defensive end. Lawrence is a five star that jumps in the mix on one of the nation's top defensive lines. Clemson needed immediate help at linebacker and got it with Lamar and Smith.

If there is an area where more help is needed it is at defensive back, but the staff had in eight of the nation's top defensive backs in the Class of 2017 this past Saturday and is poised to sign four or five of the nation's top defensive backs in the next class.

Clemson's football program took major steps this season. The Tigers were ranked number one in the country much of the season. Deshaun Watson was a Heisman finalist. The Tigers were on the cover of Sports Illustrated all Fall and you couldn't turn on ESPN without seeing Dabo, Deshaun and the Tigers. That publicity boosted the Tigers' recruiting status.

I have followed this program for forty years, but have never witnessed what we are seeing now. Just when you think it can't get better, the program does just that. The program ceiling keeps rising.

I will leave you with two thoughts that I keep repeating, but they need to be repeated today and several times tomorrow. First is Jeff Scott and Dabo Swinney's theme of, "The Best is Yet to Come." The other is my assertion that Clemson has joined Alabama, Ohio State and Florida State as the four elite programs in college football.

Hope you guys have a blast tomorrow.

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