On National Signing Day, after the Tigers had received all 12 Letters of Intent from recruits by a little after 2 p.m., head football coach Dabo Swinney held a press conference to discuss the class. One of the most interesting things that he brought up was that he and the staff were focused on filling the critical needs: "We were very, very calculated in what we have done the past five to six weeks. The focus was really on quality, really trying to sign top notch kids, great players that fit Clemson and trying to do that while filling a critical need at each position where they felt like we had that. We felt like we did that."
Coach Swinney mentioned several positions that were specified as being a critical need: DE; Safety; depth at LB; RB; WR and QB . Let's take a quick look at each of these positions and where things stand:
DE- Swinney felt it was important to get a couple of end guys because both Ricky Sapp and Kevin Alexander are seniors this year. Malliciah Goodman is a very highly rated recruit that Dabo described as having a high motor and being a phenomenal young man. It's exciting to think about how well Bowers is developing and having both of these guys on the field together next year could spell big trouble for opposing offenses. New signee Darrell Smith is a DE that also played TE in high school. Returning players are Andre' Branch, a RS sophomore, senior Jeremy Campbell and junior Kourtnei Brown. All three have playing experience and will provide some depth.
SAFETY- Replacing Michael Hamlin will be hard to do but Andre' McDaniel has experience at the CAT safety position and will move back there to try and fill those big shoes. McDaniel is one of the best players the Tigers have on defense and I hope that he continues to play well at this "new" position. Chris Clemmons is gone and Sadat Chambers will therefore almost certainly be the starting free safety. RS freshmen Spencer Adams, Rashard Hall and Carlton Lewis will also compete for playing time. New signee Jonathan Meeks is also a free safety and probably has the best shot at playing as a true freshman along with J.K. Jay and Malliciah Goodman.
LB- All three LB's signed in this class are highly rated, especially Corico Hawkins. Hawkins and Spencer Shuey play inside and Quandon Christian is an outside LB. The only outgoing senior LB on the 2008 team was Josh Miller, who was not a starter. Returning starters are Kavelle Connor and Brandon Maye, who gained a reputation as a big-time hitter last year. McDaniel did start at LB last year but is changing positions as previously mentioned. Scotty Cooper is a returning Jr. and Stanley Hunter is a returning Soph. that will also compete for playing time. Swinney mentioned that he may shuffle these guys up a little bit with respect to sam, mike and will positions.
RB- C.J. Spiller deciding to return for his senior season gives the Tigers a monumental boost going into 2009. With Davis gone, it will be up to sophomore Jamie Harper and redshirt freshman Andre' Ellington to step up and show why they were such highly rated recruits a year ago. New signee Roderick McDowell is another very highly rated recruit from Sumter, SC that will likely redshirt and join Harper and Ellington in the backfield next year. Redshirt senior Ronald Watson is the only other RB on the 2008 and has seen hardly any playing time.
WR- Aaron Kelly is another record-setting player who will be difficult to replace. Tyler Grisham will be missed because he always picked up tough yards and blocked well. Faerber is also gone. The top returning receiver is senior speedster Jacoby Ford. This year it's time for underclassmen like Xavier Dye, Marquan Jones, Jaron Brown, Terrance Ashe, Brandon Clear and Brandon Ford to become the next Tigers catching touchdown passes and breaking records. The new WR signee is Bryce McNeal, all the way from the state of Minnesota. McNeal is another player who is very highly rated and will add to the depth at this position next year.
QB- Tajh Boyd is the crown jewel of this recruiting class and we're very fortunate that he chose to come to Clemson even though we already have two very talented QB's in Willy Korn and Kyle Parker battling for the starting position this spring. Korn has suffered injuries to his throwing shoulder two years in a row and had surgery on it last December. Hopefully, the shoulder heals completely and Willy is 100%. It would be great to see the healthy player that had Tiger nation so excited coming into 2007. Parker was a highly ranked recruit at QB who is also playing baseball but has not played a down in a football game for the Tigers. Since neither has staked their claim to the QB position, I believe getting Boyd was huge. However, since Tajh is coming off of very recent acl surgery on his knee, it's highly unlikely he would be ready to start this year as a true freshman.
Coach Swinney also mentioned that preferred walk-ons will play into the mix of filling the critical need at the PK position and admitted it's one of the biggest question marks going into this year. Richard Jackson, according to my interview with Jimmy Maners, has a big leg and a lot of distance but is very inconsistent. The PK is such an important position on the team because making FG's wins games. Missing FG's loses games. Even an extra point can be the difference between losing and winning. Six out of the top 7 top scorers in Clemson football history have been PK's. So, it's imperative that we get someone who can deliver in the clutch and be consistent.
Coach Swinney mentioned several positions that were specified as being a critical need: DE; Safety; depth at LB; RB; WR and QB . Let's take a quick look at each of these positions and where things stand:
DE- Swinney felt it was important to get a couple of end guys because both Ricky Sapp and Kevin Alexander are seniors this year. Malliciah Goodman is a very highly rated recruit that Dabo described as having a high motor and being a phenomenal young man. It's exciting to think about how well Bowers is developing and having both of these guys on the field together next year could spell big trouble for opposing offenses. New signee Darrell Smith is a DE that also played TE in high school. Returning players are Andre' Branch, a RS sophomore, senior Jeremy Campbell and junior Kourtnei Brown. All three have playing experience and will provide some depth.
SAFETY- Replacing Michael Hamlin will be hard to do but Andre' McDaniel has experience at the CAT safety position and will move back there to try and fill those big shoes. McDaniel is one of the best players the Tigers have on defense and I hope that he continues to play well at this "new" position. Chris Clemmons is gone and Sadat Chambers will therefore almost certainly be the starting free safety. RS freshmen Spencer Adams, Rashard Hall and Carlton Lewis will also compete for playing time. New signee Jonathan Meeks is also a free safety and probably has the best shot at playing as a true freshman along with J.K. Jay and Malliciah Goodman.
LB- All three LB's signed in this class are highly rated, especially Corico Hawkins. Hawkins and Spencer Shuey play inside and Quandon Christian is an outside LB. The only outgoing senior LB on the 2008 team was Josh Miller, who was not a starter. Returning starters are Kavelle Connor and Brandon Maye, who gained a reputation as a big-time hitter last year. McDaniel did start at LB last year but is changing positions as previously mentioned. Scotty Cooper is a returning Jr. and Stanley Hunter is a returning Soph. that will also compete for playing time. Swinney mentioned that he may shuffle these guys up a little bit with respect to sam, mike and will positions.
RB- C.J. Spiller deciding to return for his senior season gives the Tigers a monumental boost going into 2009. With Davis gone, it will be up to sophomore Jamie Harper and redshirt freshman Andre' Ellington to step up and show why they were such highly rated recruits a year ago. New signee Roderick McDowell is another very highly rated recruit from Sumter, SC that will likely redshirt and join Harper and Ellington in the backfield next year. Redshirt senior Ronald Watson is the only other RB on the 2008 and has seen hardly any playing time.
WR- Aaron Kelly is another record-setting player who will be difficult to replace. Tyler Grisham will be missed because he always picked up tough yards and blocked well. Faerber is also gone. The top returning receiver is senior speedster Jacoby Ford. This year it's time for underclassmen like Xavier Dye, Marquan Jones, Jaron Brown, Terrance Ashe, Brandon Clear and Brandon Ford to become the next Tigers catching touchdown passes and breaking records. The new WR signee is Bryce McNeal, all the way from the state of Minnesota. McNeal is another player who is very highly rated and will add to the depth at this position next year.
QB- Tajh Boyd is the crown jewel of this recruiting class and we're very fortunate that he chose to come to Clemson even though we already have two very talented QB's in Willy Korn and Kyle Parker battling for the starting position this spring. Korn has suffered injuries to his throwing shoulder two years in a row and had surgery on it last December. Hopefully, the shoulder heals completely and Willy is 100%. It would be great to see the healthy player that had Tiger nation so excited coming into 2007. Parker was a highly ranked recruit at QB who is also playing baseball but has not played a down in a football game for the Tigers. Since neither has staked their claim to the QB position, I believe getting Boyd was huge. However, since Tajh is coming off of very recent acl surgery on his knee, it's highly unlikely he would be ready to start this year as a true freshman.
Coach Swinney also mentioned that preferred walk-ons will play into the mix of filling the critical need at the PK position and admitted it's one of the biggest question marks going into this year. Richard Jackson, according to my interview with Jimmy Maners, has a big leg and a lot of distance but is very inconsistent. The PK is such an important position on the team because making FG's wins games. Missing FG's loses games. Even an extra point can be the difference between losing and winning. Six out of the top 7 top scorers in Clemson football history have been PK's. So, it's imperative that we get someone who can deliver in the clutch and be consistent.
A final wrap up of National Signing Day and commentary on other announcements and information Coach Swinney discussed in the press conference is upcoming.
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