Explaining why strong recruiting for Clemson is ‘enormously important’

Clemson recruiting is on fire right now, with the Tigers landing three top-150 prospects in the last three days on the recruiting trail.

The run started with a commitment from linebacker Sammy Brown and continued with the additions of receivers Bryant Wesco and TJ Moore. All three were highly sought after prospects, helping the Tigers silence some of the doubters.

“Landing Sammy Brown and Clemson being in the Top 10 right now, it’s a very big deal,” On3’s JD PicKell said. “So if you’re a Clemson fan this is a little bit extra encouraging for you because you have had to listen and maybe even started to believe a little bit — it’s OK if you did, there’s no judgment here if you believed it a little bit, that’s fine — that Dabo Swinney and modern college football are starting to pass each other. Maybe the game is starting to evolve a little bit more and pass Dabo Swinney by.

“And seeing them being in the Top 10 right now is encouraging because since 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, all those recruiting classes, they were all in the Top 10. That was when Clemson was humming right along.”

There’s no overselling how big the recent Clemson additions were, either.

Brown is the No. 16 recruit in the country, a five-star prospect that just participated in the On3 NIL Elite Series. Wesco is the No. 31 overall recruit in the nation, while Moore is the No. 127 prospect hailing from a very talent-laden Tampa program.

And despite Swinney’s approach to the transfer portal — the Tigers have been far less active there than most teams — results seem to show Clemson recruiting is doing just fine.

“For Clemson, if you want to be unconventional, if you want to not use the portal, well you better do your unconventional,” PicKell said. “You better recruit at the elite level to compete for what you expect to compete to, because the standard is still there. The standard is still win the ACC, make the College Football Playoff, compete for national titles.

“The standard is the standard. When you start to drop off in your unconventional way of doing things, then things start to get a little bit less comfortable for everybody involved.”

Luckily, after a couple down years by Clemson standards on the field, things don’t seem to be trickling down to Clemson recruiting.

“And so to see Dabo land a five-star in the state of Georgia where the University of Georgia is, that’s back-to-back national champs, by the way, and to see them in the Top 10 right now, you can’t help but feel just a little bit if you’re Dabo Swinney or if you’re a Clemson fan you’re like, ‘Man, Dabo’s still got it. Dabo’s still got it. Don’t look now, but here come the Tigers,’” PicKell said.

“Because going back to what I said, that’s what you need to be able to compete in modern college football. You’ve got to have the talent level. If you don’t have it in the portal, gotta go get it from the high school level. Seeing Dabo Swinney do that I think is encouraging.”

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