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Exactly when was this cycling out phase supposed to kick in?

Evidently Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney and staff, now owners of the nation's No. 1 ranked recruiting class, haven't yet received the memo, because the Tigers continue to knock down barriers, both on and off the field.

Sunday it happened off the field with Clemson nabbing the top-rated football recruit in the nation for the second time in three years when Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco 5-star quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei ended his recruitment by publicly pledging to the Tigers.

The 6-foot-4, 235-pound QB had narrowed his focus to Clemson and Oregon in recent months after receiving nearly three-dozen offers from coast to coast, including Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas and USC.

Uiagalelei's commitment gives Clemson its second top-rated quarterback acquisition over the last three years, as the West coast gunslinger was preceded by Cartersville (Ga.) star Trevor Lawrence in the class of 2018.

It should be noted that this is not the first time Clemson has gone into California to nab a highly regarded quarterback. The Tigers signed Davey Coggin out of Wade City (Calif.) in 1995. Coggin ultimately chose baseball over enrolling at Clemson, playing for the Philadelphia Phillies from 2000-2002. The Phillies drafted Coggin 30th overall in the first round in June of 1995.

Clemson entered the weekend with the nation's No. 2-ranked recruiting class according to Rivals.com, trailing only LSU, which is off to its best start in recruiting in the Ed Orgeron era. But Uiagalelei's pledge put the Tigers ahead of LSU by nearly 100 points.

While Clemson has enjoyed immense success in recruiting under Swinney, it has not yet landed the nation's top-rated recruiting class. Swinney, in fact, has even voiced skepticism that the Tigers would ever sign the nation's top recruiting haul.

But his program has been red hot this spring, as coaches have assembled a 14-member class with everyone but one prospect rated at least four stars. And the Tigers' lone three-star pledge, Lexington (KY) offensive lineman Walker Parks, is now under four-star consideration after his recent performance at the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp in Cincinnati (OH) last month.

Swinney's first top 10-ranked recruiting class occurred in 2011, an impressive feat given that the No. 8 haul was sealed just weeks after the Tigers wrapped up their worst season in 12 years.

Since that winter, Swinney has signed top 10-ranked classes in 2015 (4th), 2016 (6th), 2018 (8th) and 2019 (9th).

Prior to the Tigers' 2011 class, the last time the program signed a top 10 class was 1995 (10th) under then head coach Tommy West. The class was one of just two top 10 classes in the decade of the 1990's for the Tigers, which also signed the nation's No. 6 class in 1992 under Ken Hatfield.

Entering this year Clemson's highest rated recruiting classes on record occurred in 1988 and 1989 with back-to-back No. 3 rankings in what were Danny Ford's final two classes.

Clemson could sign 20 or more prospects in its 2020 class.

ALSO SEE: Rivals.com's National Recruiting Class Rankings | Clemson's commitments | VIDEO Analysis of Uiagalelei's commitment | DJ's Video Announcement

Tigerillustrated.com will have much more on the Tigers' class, additional 5-star prospects we continue to track and Uiagalelei in tomorrow's Monday Insider.

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