Dabo Swinney climbed up on his soapbox for a minute last Wednesday to make his case against the star-rating system.
“I think the interesting thing about recruiting — I just think it’s all backwards,” he said. “To me, what we should be doing today, we should be coming out and assigning stars to the guys that came in four and five years ago. Their star should be assigned today.”
Up first in our six-part series of Clemson’s past recruiting class is the top half of the 2009 haul — better known as The Dandy Dozen.
According to Rivals: A five-star prospect is considered to be one of the nation’s top 25-30 players, four star is a top 250-300 or so player, three-stars is a top 750 level player, two stars means the player is a mid-major prospect and one star means the player is not ranked.
The ranking system ranks prospects on a numerical scale from 6.1-4.9.
6.1 Franchise Player; considered one of the elite prospects in the country, generally among the nation’s top 25 players overall; deemed to have excellent pro potential; high-major prospect
6.0-5.8 All-American Candidate; high-major prospect; considered one of the nation’s top 300 prospects; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team
5.7-5.5 All-Region Selection; considered among the region’s top prospects and among the top 750 or so prospects in the country; high-to-mid-major prospect; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team
5.4-5.0 Division I prospect; considered a mid-major prospect; deemed to have limited pro potential but definite Division I prospect; may be more of a role player
4.9 Sleeper; no Rivals.com expert knew much, if anything, about this player; a prospect that only a college coach really knew about
Tajh Boyd – 4-star QB (6.0)
The headliner of the class helped lay the foundation for where Clemson is today.
In 47 games (40 starts) during his career, Boyd passed for 11,904 yards with 107 touchdowns. He set ACC records for touchdown responsibility (133) and touchdown passes. Before exiting Clemson, Boyd set over 20 school records. The ACC media named him to the all-conference first-team twice.
As a pro, Boyd’s bounced around between a couple of NFL rosters and has even had a few stints in Canada.
Rivals was on the money with his rating.
Malliciah Goodman – 4-star (6.0)
Without a doubt, he saved the best for last. Goodman’s performance against LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl will go down as the best game of his four-year career career — four tackles and a game-high three sacks.
Goodman had 150 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss and 12 sacks at Clemson. As a senior, he was named honorable mention All-ACC by the league’s media and coaches. He had 28 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks that season.
The Falcons selected Goodman in the fourth-round of the 2013 draft. He appeared in 30 games in his first two seasons and made 25 tackles. In 2015, he played in just four games. This season is the final on his rookie contract with the Falcons.
Goodman didn’t quite live up to the lofty 6.0 rating, but he was knocking on the door as a senior. That season was reflective of a four-star prospect.
Bryce McNeal – 4-star WR (6.0)
McNeal arrived to Clemson by way of Minnesota, but the former U.S. Army All-American never lived up to the hype.
As a freshman, he played in 12 games (three starts) and caught 19 passes for 187 yards. Three games into 2011, McNeal left the team. He had just one catch for eight yards.
Before leaving Clemson, McNeal finished graduated, so he would have been eligible to play at UConn in 2012. However, his career with the Huskies ended before it even started. Louisville landed him in August of 2012, but he left the team before the end of the month.
Roderick McDowell – 4-star (5.9)
McDowell was at the bottom of a crowded depth chart upon arrival. Over the course of his Clemson career, he backed up C.J. Spiller, Jamie Harper and Andre Ellington, all three of whom have played in the NFL.
Persistence paid off for McDowell, who rushed 46 times for 224 yards and two touchdowns over his first two seasons. As a junior, he had 83 carries for 450 yards and five touchdowns.
As a senior in 2013, McDowell was named to the All-ACC third-team. He led the Tigers with 1,025 yards on 189 carries and five touchdowns. The Sumter product also caught 29 passes for 199 yards and two scores.
That season, McDowell was every bit the four-star prospect Rivals handed to him out of high school.
Jonathan Meeks – 4-star (5.8)
Meeks graduated from Rock Hill High School in 2008 then spent a prep year at Hargrave Military Academy. Over the course of his career at Clemson, he had 157 tackles, two tackles for loss, seven interceptions for 192 yards and 13 pass breakups. As a senior, he was named honorable mention All-ACC.
Meeks logged 1,889 snaps over 50 games (24 starts) as a Tiger and finished fifth in school history in interception return yards.
Picked by the Bills in the fifth-round of the 2013 draft, Meeks has played in 22 games during his NFL career. He missed the entire 2014 season and was placed injured reserve because of a neck injury.
Rivals’ rating proved to be accurate.
Brandon Thomas – 4-star (5.8)
To say Thomas’ Clemson career got off to a rocky start would be a bit of an understatement. Once he righted the ship, it was smooth sailing for the former four-star from Dorman High School.
As a senior in 2013, Thomas was named All-ACC by the coaches. The league’s media named him to the second-team. Thomas recorded 32 knockdowns in 865 snaps over 13 games, every one of which he started at left tackle.
The ACC media named him to the first-team a year earlier, his first as the starting left tackle. A secondary education major, he also earned a spot on the ACC Academic Honor Roll. In a team-high 987 snaps, Thomas had 23 knockdown blocks.
The 49ers drafted Thomas in the third-round of the 2014 draft with the 100th overall pick. An ACL injury before the draft put him on the shelf for all of his first season in the league. He did not appear in a game in 2015.
Thomas is arguably Clemson’s most underrated player from the 2009 class, even though he was a four-star.