Monday Insider
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1. For as dynamic as Clemson’s next recruiting class could be, are we underselling how special this one is taking shape to wind up?
No one is disparaging the Tigers’ haul to date for sure, even in light of the uncertainty with what they’ll finish with on the offensive line.
Yet one could argue there’s a strange lack of buzz for what could be a historical class, at least with how we tend to define them.
Less than three weeks from the early signing period – by which time most recruiting business is done – Clemson is quietly inching toward its highest-ranked class ever, if somewhat by unconventional route.
The Tigers climbed to No. 3 in the Rivals.com team recruiting rankings last week after Oregon incurred a pair of decommitments.
Alabama resides at No. 1 and threatens to run away with the unofficial recruiting title yet again. Georgia sits at No. 7 but looks primed to catapult to No. 2 with its available space and remaining targets.
There are a handful of teams clustered beyond there, and Clemson is perhaps more primed than any of them to stake claim to the bronze this cycle for two main reasons:
The targets they could get, and the commitments they already have.
Clemson has the potential to add substantially to its point total, as four of the five remaining targets squarely in their crosshairs are fringe Rivals100 prospects. A team’s top 20 commitments count toward the point total, and the next two lowest to be displaced are mid-three stars.
So that’s the acquisition component.
One of the interesting footnotes to the current team rankings is that neither No. 1 Alabama nor No. 3 Clemson has scored a five-star commitment yet.
Why haven’t the Tigers gotten more five-stars?
Maybe they have, and we just haven’t rated them as such yet.
The network is slated to release its next-to-last rankings update this week, with the final one set to come after the all-star game circuit closes in early January.
We don’t want to spoil any surprise. But based on our call from the booth, you (n)gotta check back later today for substantial movement on the Clemson side.
2. The vast majority of college assistant coaches spent last week on the road with the start of the NCAA’s postseason contact period.
Conference championship games annually fall during this week, which typically prompts those coaches to get a later start on their travel. But that wasn’t so much the case last week, as the competition among its peers prompted Georgia to have staffers out the Wednesday night before their SEC Championship clash with Alabama. The Tide sent out staffers to nearby in-state targets Thursday evening.
The latter is more in-line with Clemson’s standard mode of operation, particularly with the ACC Championship game played on Saturday night and in nearby Charlotte, N.C.
As we hinted at in last week’s Insider, there’s plenty of time between Thursday afternoon’s final workout and the time the team convenes Saturday for the 7 p.m. kickoff.
Simply, it wouldn’t behoove the Tigers for their intended visit schedule to be advertised – lest competitors consequently work to steal or clutter those time slots.
The first to draw a stop was Tampa (Fla.) Plant four-star lineman Will Putnam.
Putnam (6-4, 285), ranked No. 105 nationally by Rivals.com, is down to Auburn, Clemson and Florida State.
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