Clemson commit to those who worry about star rankings: Sit back and relax

Constantin will compete at Nike's The Opening this weekend

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Tue Jun 26 13:32:30 GMT-05:00 2018

Bryton Constantin has a message to everybody who is worried about Clemson’s 2019 recruiting class – don’t worry about it, because the Clemson coaching staff knows exactly what it’s doing.

Constantin is a 4-star linebacker commit out of Baton Rouge (LA), one of 18 prospects committed to the Tigers for the 2019 recruiting cycle. The class is currently ranked third by Rivals, fourth by 247, and ninth by ESPN. However, some of the recent commits have come about after camp evaluation – by the coaches – and the prospects don’t come with as many stars as fans would like to see.

Constantin says relax.

“I would tell those people just go back home, sit back down and not worry about it because the coaches know what they're doing,” Constantin told TigerNet this week. “Clearly, they know what they're doing. The people who hate and stuff like that have never played a snap of football in their life because they don't understand that the coaches know what they're doing. They're not going to bring a kid into the program who doesn't fit character-wise, personality-wise and that's going to be best for the team. He might not be a 5-star or the most athletic kid you've ever seen, but he's going to come in and make the program better from all aspects.”

Constantin is one of the players who recently received a bump in the recruiting rankings – from a 3-star to a 4-star.

“My sophomore year and my whole junior year, I was a 3-star and I never knew what that meant,” he said. “I didn't know how people judged it or if they ranked it off of offers. A lot of people get their stars based off of who they are or how they big they are, so some people like me, I was a 3-star. I went to camps and competed and my times were okay. My performance was okay. This year I went back to the same camps and they saw I got faster and bigger and stronger and I improved all aspects of my game, so the bumped me up to a 4-star.

“Some people, they clearly improve and then with some people they might pick up more offers or something like that. So, it's kind of iffy. I don't really base people off of stars or rankings or anything like that. It's nice to have, clearly, but I don't base what I think about a player off of that.”

Constantin is headed to Frisco (TX) this week (at the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters at The Star) for The Opening, and he will continue to recruit for defensive coordinator Brent Venables and the Tigers. No matter what happens, however, he is a big believer in this recruiting class.

“I feel like the recruiting class is going well so far,” Constantin said. “We are going to be close to signing a full class, and I feel like everybody sees - especially defensive linemen - they see the Power Rangers that are leaving now and they want to come in and see if they can make an impact. We are going to have a really good recruiting class and everything is going to go well.”