By William Qualkinbush.
By William Qualkinbush.
News flash: Clemson’s coaching staff rocks recruiting.
I mean, the staff rocks recruiting’s socks off. It’s almost too easy for these guys right now.
Five-star offensive tackle from Georgia? No problem getting Mitch Hyatt’s commitment.
But he had some help. Surely Clemson can’t pull a top ten tackle out of Florida too…right? Wrong, says Jake Fruhmorgen.
Need pass-rushers? The Tiger staff can get those in Virginia (Clelin Ferrell) and Georgia (Austin Bryant). How about run-stuffers? Sterling Johnson and Gage Cervenka say hello.
Great athletes from Florida stay in Florida. Except for Deon Cain, and now his friend Ray Ray McCloud. Add in premier tight end Garrett Williams to complete a talented Sunshine State receiving crew.
In the past dozen years or so, there have been snapshots of time in which the nation has paid attention to Clemson’s recruiting efforts on the gridiron. When Clemson brought in Roscoe Crosby (and the rest of that talented receiving crew), people noticed. Antonio Clay raised some eyebrows. James Davis arguably paved the way for C.J. Spiller, Sammy Watkins, and a host of other primetime prospects who signed on the dotted line.
But never in Clemson history has the school been able to bring in pretty much any player it wanted. Dabo Swinney’s staff doesn’t take a back seat to anybody, as he loves to say. Nowhere is that more evident than on the recruiting trail.
Swinney enjoys a rarified air among his peers in this regard. Clemson fans have become proud of that label, hanging on every offer and visit and commitment. Frankly, much of the country is caught up in a recruiting frenzy that pollutes the mind and convinces the brain that wins and losses are decided each time a coach enters the home of a high school prospect.
This obsession with recruiting drives recruiting coverage, which gets bigger and bigger every year. Here at TCI, we have a ton of new ways to amp up our coverage in an effort to be better than ever, including the addition of an absolute stud in Hale McGranahan. We aim to please here, but that does come at a cost.
The reason why recruiting coverage works is because it taps into one of the weakest points in the psyche of the modern human being. It is a force that drives sports fans to be insatiable, blood-thirsty creatures.
We are never satisfied with anything.
One commitment isn’t enough. Immediately after a major announcement in the affirmative, the conversation shifts to who the next commit might be. There is never a settling point where a fan base rests and says, “This is good.”
Coaches can’t ever relax in recruiting, but that doesn’t mean fans can’t. The same goes for looking ahead of an opponent or dwelling on long-term goals. Fans experience no consequences from doing either of these things, but coaches and players don’t have that luxury.
Sometimes fans miss the big picture. We—and I’m including the media in this, as well—forget how hard it is to do any of the things big-time football programs do at an elite level. We all take it for granted.
Currently, Clemson ranks third in the ESPN.com/Scouts Inc. recruiting rankings. That almost certainly won’t last. Other teams will add great talent later on in the process, and the Tigers are basically full as it stands.
The conventional wisdom says Clemson fans will become less satisfied as the Tigers drop in the rankings. But that doesn’t mean days like Monday, when McCloud spurned the wishes of his family to cast his lots with Clemson, are any less special in a vacuum.
Attentions will turn to whoever the next big fish is, but my desire is to treat each major addition as a minor victory. I’ll let the internet debate the future all day long.
God Bless!
WQ