By Will Vandervort.

Dabo Swinney isn’t the kind of guy that stays satisfied. He has a vision and he is always thinking one step ahead. It’s one reason why Clemson has finished each of the last five years ranked in the top 15 nationally in recruiting, including a No. 4 ranking by ESPN and Rivals for the 2015 Class.

“We have obviously had some success the last few years in recruiting, but he is never satisfied and he is always wanting to find ways to get better,” said Jeff Scott, who just finished his final year as Clemson’s recruiting coordinator. “He wants to do that throughout the entire program.”

Part of Swinney’s vision for his football program at Clemson has been to create an environment that is not only one step ahead of its competitors but is at the forefront, especially when it comes to recruiting.

Thus he came up with what he calls “Clemson Google.”

Clemson Google, or more commonly known as the Clemson recruiting and player personnel department, was developed and is run by Thad Turnipseed, Swinney’s director of recruiting and external affairs. Turnipseed and his staff oversee the ins and outs of all recruiting aspects from social media, emails, video productions, player videos, evaluations, recruiting visits and game-day coordination.

“To be great you have to have a whole different approach in everything you do,” Turnipseed said.

When Turnipseed took the job at Clemson two years ago he was in an 8 x10 office on the second floor of the WestZone with former Clemson greats Jeff Davis, in a 10 x16 office and James Trapp in an 8 X12 office. There was no board room, the players’ lounge was not up to par and the locker room could use some new stuff as well.

“With my facilities background, I said we need to do this, this and this and he said you have a million dollars to do it,” Turnipseed said.

Turnipseed used that money and this past summer Clemson upgraded the “Clemson Google” or Outreach Recruiting Center, remodeled the entire players’ lounge and updated the locker room. There are also plans for future renovations that the board of trustees is about to approve as well.

“As Coach is talking about, we are always trying to get better,” Turnipseed said.

Clemson’s recruiting, and its attitude about it, has done a complete 180-degree turn compared to what it was like for Swinney when he took over as head coach in 2008.

When he went and recruited Tajh Boyd that first year, Swinney remembers asking Boyd to believe in what he was telling him despite being a rookie head coach with just a plan. It did not make it any easier that Jim Tressel was on the back porch and Mike Bellotti was in the driveway.

“I told him, ‘If you just believe, we are going to change Clemson together.’ It takes that belief. It takes a few guys to take that chance,” Swinney said.

Now, six years later, Clemson is on the cusp of something special. With Boyd’s help, Swinney took the Tigers to an ACC Championship and has followed that with four consecutive 10 win seasons, in which the program won a school-record 42 games.

During that time Clemson has landed blue-chip players such as Sammy Watkins, Stephone Anthony and Deshaun Watson to help it defeat national powers such as Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma, while all the while improving Clemson’s image and its brand.

“The Paw is powerful,” Turnipseed said. “Nationally, the Paw is recognizable. Everybody wants to be a part of it. The culture in place here that Coach Swinney has created over the years, it recruits itself for the Clemson-type player that we want – a good kid where academics mean a lot. Those kids come here and see this culture. It recruits itself at that point.”

But Swinney isn’t satisfied or just content with where the Tigers are at. He wants the program to be relevant on the national scene. He believes Clemson can win a national championship, again.  But to get there it has to keep working to get better.

That’s why he brought Turnipseed in.

“Coach Swinney has the ability to communicate clearly his vision. He is the best closer I have ever seen whether it is a recruit walking in the door, our staff or to IPTAY,” Turnipseed said. “His message is clearly understood where everybody understands what we are trying to be and how we are trying to get there.”

To get there Turnipseed and his staff started a marketing campaign that included a strategy using social media and YouTube to show off the program in a way that has never been seen before.

“We want to be a team that is going to be in the mix for the long term, and every decision we have made has been for the long term,” Swinney said. “Not taking shortcuts, doing things the right way and having discipline in our program and graduating our players.”

“Our biggest thing in the past was getting guys on campus. Now, they all want to come and at least check out Clemson,” Swinney said. “If we get them here then we have a great shot.”

The results of “Clemson Google”

•Fifth straight year Clemson has had a top 15 class according to both ESPN and Rivals.com.

•Clemson ranked fourth in the nation according to ESPN.com and Rivals.com, seventh by PrepStars, eighth by 247 Sports and 15th by Scout.com.

•Clemson’s average ranking was No. 8 in the nation according to the five services.

•Clemson’s No. 4 recruiting ranking by ESPN and Rivals.com are the best in any ranking since 2008 when Clemson was No. 2 by ESPN.com.  The No. 4 ranking by Rivals.com is the best for the Tigers by Rivals.com

•Clemson has now been ranked in the top 20 by ESPN each of the last 10 years.  This is the fourth top 10 class for Clemson in last 10 years according to the service.

•Clemson signed three Parade All-Americans for first time since 2011 (Hyatt, Huggins and Israel). Second straight year Clemson has signed a Parade All-America quarterback.

•Signed Mitch Hyatt, Parade All-America offensive lineman.  First time since 1987 Clemson signed a first-team Parade All-America offensive lineman.  (Kelvin Hankins in 1987 signed by offensive line coach Bill D’Andrea).

•Clemson’s class has nine top 150 players according to ESPN.com, the most by Clemson since 2008 class had 10 top 150 players. Seven of those 10 top 150 players from the 2008 class have already played in the NFL.

•Thirteen players in this class are ranked in the top 150 nationally by at least one service.

•Clemson has 11 top 150 players according to Rivals.com, most ever by Clemson from that service.

•Clemson signed 14 players considered to be among the top 15 players in the country at their position by at least one national service.

•This Clemson class has four players from Georgia, giving Clemson 14 players from Georgia in the last three years after having none in 2012 class.

•This class has five players from Florida, most since 2008.

•Has two players from Virginia, first time any player from Virginia since Tajh Boyd in 2009.

*First time since 1990 Clemson signed a player (Christian Wilkins) from the state of Massachusetts. The last player from Massachusetts was Kevin Dakin.

•Clemson signed 10 players from state of South Carolina, including the number-one player in Albert Huggins (according to Rivals and Scout) and the number-one player according to ESPN, Noah Green.

•The 26 players announced on Wednesday are the most for Clemson in one class since the Tigers signed 27 in 2011. It is just the second time in the last 17 years that Clemson has announced more than 25 recruits on signing day.