CLE802A
07-04-2011, 02:28 PM
I keep reading on these message boards about this incoming recruiting class (the 2011 one) being Clemson's "best ever"....and I must say that I am pretty confused.
Pretty much ALL the online recruiting services say that this is NOT Clemson's best class ever. The 2008 class was ranked better in most every way: in team rankings, in average stars, in total star points. The 2011 class was top heavy with a few prospects, but once you get past the top 5-10 prospects the class becomes actually mediocre.
With the concerns about the program's direction in recent seasons, and the first losing season since 1998, should it's fanbase be so excited over a class of essentially a handful of players? Clemson obviously needs more than 3-5 players to right it's ills.
The 2008 class was highly heralded by Clemson Nation. It brought in such talents as Bowers, Ellington, Harper, Parker, Allen, Adams, Ford, Jones. Etc. etc. etc. That class has gone 22-18 in 3 years in CU, including 1-2 versus it's bitter in-state rival. Hardly eye-popping production....
The biggest reason most CU fans can point to for that class not reaching it's supposed potential was the coaching. But William Swinney has been the head coach for the vast majority of those 3 seasons. He's still coaching there. You now have a new offensive coordinator in Chad Morris, but IMO not many Tiger fans are taking into consideration just how unproven he truly is at the college level. Morris experienced some success in his one and only year as OC at Tulsa, but he came into that program - out of a career as a high school coach - only to find the entire offensive roster ready-made for his system. Because they had been running his system there for several years already. All the players there were recruited for his system, were familiar with his terminologies and pace of running the offense. And let's face it: Tulsa is one of the more competitive programs in the Conference USA, after being middle-of-the-pack (at best) in the Western Athletic Conference.
No, the program at Tulsa was all laid out for Morris - or ANY OC who ran Malzahn's type of offense - to have success there, and Morris did. Now at CU, he finds a roster of players who were not familiar with his system....upperclassmen who will need to totally wipe their collective consciousness of what they learned under Napier, and do it a different way for Morris. In a conference that - as weak as the ACC typically is - is still a step or two above the CUSA. The task seems daunting....
Everything at best seems to indicate that we should be patient for success at CU. Relying on true freshman to accomplish what seasoned juniors and seniors could not do is foolhardy at best, but that seems to be Tiger Nation's Best Hope for 2011. Even though everything seems to weigh against it actually happening....
This is what is commonly referred to as "whistling in the dark", Tiger fans. What would be YOUR rationale for placing so much hope on this lone, solitary recruiting class??
:confused:
Pretty much ALL the online recruiting services say that this is NOT Clemson's best class ever. The 2008 class was ranked better in most every way: in team rankings, in average stars, in total star points. The 2011 class was top heavy with a few prospects, but once you get past the top 5-10 prospects the class becomes actually mediocre.
With the concerns about the program's direction in recent seasons, and the first losing season since 1998, should it's fanbase be so excited over a class of essentially a handful of players? Clemson obviously needs more than 3-5 players to right it's ills.
The 2008 class was highly heralded by Clemson Nation. It brought in such talents as Bowers, Ellington, Harper, Parker, Allen, Adams, Ford, Jones. Etc. etc. etc. That class has gone 22-18 in 3 years in CU, including 1-2 versus it's bitter in-state rival. Hardly eye-popping production....
The biggest reason most CU fans can point to for that class not reaching it's supposed potential was the coaching. But William Swinney has been the head coach for the vast majority of those 3 seasons. He's still coaching there. You now have a new offensive coordinator in Chad Morris, but IMO not many Tiger fans are taking into consideration just how unproven he truly is at the college level. Morris experienced some success in his one and only year as OC at Tulsa, but he came into that program - out of a career as a high school coach - only to find the entire offensive roster ready-made for his system. Because they had been running his system there for several years already. All the players there were recruited for his system, were familiar with his terminologies and pace of running the offense. And let's face it: Tulsa is one of the more competitive programs in the Conference USA, after being middle-of-the-pack (at best) in the Western Athletic Conference.
No, the program at Tulsa was all laid out for Morris - or ANY OC who ran Malzahn's type of offense - to have success there, and Morris did. Now at CU, he finds a roster of players who were not familiar with his system....upperclassmen who will need to totally wipe their collective consciousness of what they learned under Napier, and do it a different way for Morris. In a conference that - as weak as the ACC typically is - is still a step or two above the CUSA. The task seems daunting....
Everything at best seems to indicate that we should be patient for success at CU. Relying on true freshman to accomplish what seasoned juniors and seniors could not do is foolhardy at best, but that seems to be Tiger Nation's Best Hope for 2011. Even though everything seems to weigh against it actually happening....
This is what is commonly referred to as "whistling in the dark", Tiger fans. What would be YOUR rationale for placing so much hope on this lone, solitary recruiting class??
:confused: