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1. It’s not how you start. It’s with whom you finish.

We love to track the sprints and the side cramps along the way, but each recruiting cycle is a marathon where the numbers at the end are what matter most. (Although the proliferation of transfers has even started distorting those, but that’s another story.)

At the beginning of the calendar year, Clemson's recruiting class was ranked as high as No. 2 by Rivals.com – in as much because the Tigers scored several big names on the front end.

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There were fluctuations along the way, and they dropped as low as No. 12 during the fall because other schools far surpassed them in volume acquisitions while Clemson continued riding out a couple of marquee courtships.

The final tally comes with the Feb. 3 National Signing Day. But the vast majority of signatures and standings will be in place after the early signing period, which begins Wednesday.

By the end, the cream has usually risen to the top, and that is what we’ve witnessed again this cycle.