Tuesday February 03, 2009

Big Day Eve

Big Day Eve
Wednesday is a big day in Tigertown. The Class of 2009 will officially become Tigers when signing day starts tomorrow morning and the day will end with the 10th-ranked Clemson team hosting third-ranked Duke at 9:00 pm in Littlejohn.

The past few signing days have created quite the buzz around Tigertown with huge signing days and signing day coupes. I do not anticipate this kind of excitement tomorrow. This class has terrific quality but is low in terms of quantity. Below are several reasons for the low numbers:

1-Alabama
The Tigers came into the season riding a wave of positive energy. They were highly rated in the pre-season magazines and pre-season polls. Clemson was one of the hot teams in the country. The Tigers were one of the teams that had the attention of top prospects all across the Southeast as the perception was that Clemson was very close to doing something very special.

However, the bad news is with those expectations came a huge letdown. The Tigers looked awful in the opening game of the season and got physically dominated. The national and regional media rightfully portrayed Clemson as one of the biggest disappointments early in the year. The Tigers had benefitted from all of the publicity in the pre-season but all of the positives disappeared in one August night in the Georgia Dome. Prospects took notice that something was wrong in Clemson very early.

2-The Disappointing Season
This was supposed to be the year where the Tigers broke through and finally won the Atlantic Division. Clemson was the best team on paper. They had the ACC Pre-season MVP in record setting quarterback Cullen Harper. They had record setting running back in James Davis and the top wide receiver in the league in Aaron Kelly.

The team never rebounded from the opening game disaster against Alabama and found a way to fall apart in the second half against Maryland. Injuries to the likes of C.J. Spiller and the offensive line hurt and the loss to Wake Forest pretty much sealed the Tigers fate in terms of the ACC season. The heavy pre-season favorite could not beat the teams they were supposed to beat and opposing coaches asked recruits how long it would take Bowden to win a division title?

3-Mid-Year Coaching Change
Making the coaching change was the right thing to do in the middle of the season for short-term benefit of the program. However, prospects ended the month of November without knowing who Clemson’s next coach would be. Instability at the head coach position is never a good thing for recruiting.

4-De-Commitments
Craig Loston would have probably never ended up at Clemson but Devonte Holloman’s defection hurt. Clemson went from having two of the nation’s top rated safeties to having zero safety commitments. The Tigers needed safeties but many other prospects committed elsewhere when Loston and Holloman chose Clemson. The same can be said be said when Eric Fields did not improve his academic status. Ben Axon and Larry Raper were not big losses but the perception of de-commitments hurt programs.

5-Early Commitments
Recruiting has changed so much in recent years. Prospects now often commit during their junior year or the summer before their senior seasons. With so many of the top prospects already committed to other schools by the time Dabo was named head coach, the Tigers had a much smaller pool to chose from. The staff did a nice job of getting some undecided prospects on board and they tried hard to get some prospects committed to other schools to change their minds but it is difficult to make up for two years of recruiting in two months.

6-Stability at other programs
Dabo was the new kid on the block. For most of the prospects sophomore, junior and senior seasons they had ben sold on Bowden being at Clemson. All of the sudden the message changed. Mark Richt, Butch Davis and Urban Meyer are more established in their states and it makes it hard for the new coaches. Other coaches were still selling the same message. Clemson had benefitted from this stability for years under Bowden but this was obviously not the case for this class.

7-Fallbacks
The final reason why the numbers will be down in this class is the fact the staff decided to not go heavy with fallback prospects. They may sign Darrell Smith tomorrow but he is the only fallback prospect Clemson offered. This is the right decision. A one-year stop gap many times turns into a four year mistake. The correct strategy is to save the scholarships for next season.

The Good News
All is not lost in this class. There are some really good football players signing with Clemson tomorrow. Also this staff is loaded with fantastic recruiters. I am not sure any staff in America has an offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator who can recruit like Billy Napier and Kevin Steele. Jeff Scott has gotten off to a good start in his recruiting career. Danny Pearman is one of the most respected recruiters in the South and has been for years. David Blackwell is a terrific recruiter who is popular in South Carolina with high school coaches. Charlie Harbison has been known as a top notch recruiter for over 15 years. Brad Scott is a very experienced recruiter that has been very consistent in signing big-time players for 25 years. Chris Rumph is quickly becoming known as an outstanding young recruiter and can be counted on as a strength.

Also Dabo is an incredible recruiter who will do well when he establishes relationships with prospects and their families. There is a transition from an assistant coach to a head coach in terms on recruiting but Dabo has the people skills and the organization skills needed to make a smooth transition.

I think you can rest assured that the staff will feel a sense of urgency with the next class at Clemson. In the past five years schools like LSU and Penn State have had classes with less than 15 signees, so maintaining success despite one small class can be done. However, it puts more pressure on the next class. Clemson needs to have both quantity and quality in the next class.

Next February the Tigers will need to sign players at every position especially at corner, offensive line, defensive line and wide receiver.

Tomorrow I will add some recruiting notes and touch more on the huge top-ten battle in Littlejohn tomorrow night.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover-was born Wednesday, January 14 several weeks pre-mature and was 2 lbs. 15 ounces. She is doing well but like all pre-mature babies she will have to get through several issues over the next few weeks.

Mrs. Kathleen Bowers

Larry in Naples, FL. Larry is currently being kept sedated in ICU and has acute pancreatitis. Larry is going to be transferred this week to Shands in Gainesville, FL for surgery on his pancreas. The doctors are saying that there is a 40% mortality rate with this surgery and if successful, there will still be a very long recovery. Larry is a great guy and a wonderful husband/father. Larry is 32 years old.

RTG-Pawsitive Tiger

Kaitlyn L-4 year old girl in TN who has seizures and a brain lesion that may be a slow-growing tumor. She will likely have a biopsy in February.

Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter)

Sandy Wright

Jo Ann Bachman

Frank Taylor

Kenneth Bryant

Pruitt Martin

Got igers and his family

David Rowland

Leonard Gillespie and his family

Jim S

Christine Hepfer

Daniel Rosborough-4-year old Inman, SC who will have a kidney transplant 1/14/09 in Charleston

Special Prayer Request from Peggy Lesley at Brookwood Church .

I am starting a signing for my son's best friend who has cancer (Hodgkin's Lymphoma). He is 11 years old and is not doing well at all. He was diagnosed with this cancer 2 weeks ago and the tumor is next to his jugular vein and entwined in it...has moved his wind pipe over a inch making it hard for him to breathe. The tumor is the size of a large eggplant and is sitting right above his heart. This little boy needs all the prayer he can get. I would like you to sign this and pass it on to as many people as you can. Once we get to a thousand people can you please send this back to me at: 1volsgirl@bellsouth.net When I get the 1000 people that have signed it...I am going to print this up for my sons best friend and show him how many people care and how many people are praying for him to get better. If you have a heart at all, you will all do this for me. I love this child as though he is my own and we really need all the prayers! Thanks,
Peggy

Amy Murphey - diagnosed with ALS, pray for healing

Jack Huffman

Nancy Winkler

Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan

Ronnie Queen

Creighton McCallum

Edward Putman

John Reeve