Recruiting Post-Mortem

Recently an article from SI.com talked about the relation between a college's ability to recruit close to home and its winning percentage. So if you can recruit your backyard(about a 200 mile proximity) you should be winning a lot of games. This is especially important for Clemson because it can get a little crowded when your backyard overlaps with a bunch of other ACC (NC, NC State, Duke, WF, GT) and SEC teams (Cootville, Georgia). I thought we would look at how we fared this year, especially looking towards 2010 and if this correlation will lead to an increase in victories.

I think we started this year with big plans and a vision for extending the scope and reach of our recruiting. We had the momentum coming into the season, the top ten ranking, and the expectation of the ACC championship and a BCS bowl game. The coaching staff bought into this and coupled with our increased effectiveness in places outside the 200 miles like Florida and Alabama, we expanded our reach. This all came to a crashing halt first in the Georgia Dome but really when the ACC championship seemed out of reach. So how did we fare despite the meltdown...I'm going to divide this into four seperate posts about the various states, South Carolina, NC, Georgia and all the rest.

In the mean time lets talk about what we got and how to divide recruits up. We pulled Malliciah Goodman and JK Jay who commited early, enrolled early and were the foundation for the class. If we lose JK after Bowden leaves to Georgia then this class wouldnt even look half the same. But these guys were also always Tigers--I would put McDowell in this same category as well. These are guys were born and bred Clemson fans--you have to get these kids. In past years we have done well and were fortunate to have top talent like this with Bowers, Korn and even Sapp. Likewise your going to have kids who grow up Coots and are going to go hang out with Micheal Phelps and get arrested. Some also are dead set on leaving the state to play with the supposed big time schools. Clemson needs to become that big time school and put a fence around its backyard. Where the battleground lies is all the rest in the middle because while SC has plenty of talent I'm not sure two teams can share it and make a run at a national championship.

I think we should be happy with the level of talent we got but it puts a lot of pressure on the class coming in. South Carolina did a good job of mooching off other schools and building some momentum despite the end of their season--loosing Mackey and Fields really hurts at the end but SC couldnt close on some key targets as well--Washington, Montgomery, getting away. Alshon Jefferey is the diamond though and to be a successful program you have to keep those top caliber prospects from jumping state and thats a big time program can do. Lucky for Clemson fans SC is still going to be known as the place where washed up coaches go to die(unfortuately some rise again and become ESPN talking heads).