A job well done
posted by LW, Thursday, February 04, 2010
We'll know more about their ability as coaches in Year 2 of D.S. and Year 1 of P.S. (Post-Spiller).
But in the last 14 months, Clemson's staff has proven to be quite adept at this recruiting game.
Last year, they came out of nowhere to land Tajh Boyd and Bryce McNeal after spending October and November just trying to hold on to their jobs.
This year, they showed what they can do with more time -- and lots of hard work.
Who knows what this class will end up doing years down the road, but it's hard not to like how many of these kids picked Clemson and remained with Clemson despite heavy pushes from some notable competition.
It's hard not to like the fact that, despite striking out on a number of highly-regarded guys instate, the Tigers still put together an impressive class by doing some serious work outside the state -- most notably in the talent-rich Peach State.
Yesterday's signing-day press conference at Clemson was the normal song and dance, with Dabo and Jeff Scott saying they met their needs and all that. But a few things stood out to me.
Dabo pointed out that recruiting was at the forefront of his mind when he put together his coaching staff. Man, what an effort by Charlie Harbison in Georgia. And we can now see some of what Dabo saw in Scott when he promoted him to recruiting coordinator.
Scott spent some time with reporters yesterday, and we're going to have an extensive Q&A with Scott later this morning.
Listening to Scott's answers and the depth therein, you get a sense of not only the underlying philosophies of this staff, but also of the meticulous and driven way Scott conducts his duties as recruiting coordinator.
Here are some insights from Scott that indicate the 29-year-old has a pretty good feel for this thing:
“Bottom line, you get guys on campus and they know whether Clemson is right for them or not. And I tell them, ‘If Clemson is not right for you, promise me one thing: Don’t come to Clemson. Save your time and save our time.’ A lot of times they look at me strange, because they tell me I’m the first person that’s ever told them not to come to your school. Clemson is a special place for special people that find Clemson to be right for them.”
"That’s a crucial time in recruiting, is the December and January of a junior prospect. Because that’s really the first time they’re really starting to take a serious look at it. And if you can be in their schools – there’s juniors in this state where, if I could be there six times throughout December and January, I was there all six times and I was there about all day long. And they know it. And when everybody else starts showing up this spring, those prospects are going to remember, ‘Well, the guys from Clemson have been here for a while, and they’re not just showing up.’”
“There’s other prospects that you go meet and they’re big-time guys and you go visit with them, and after 30 minutes visiting with them you can tell: ‘Man, I really would love to have this guy, but he’s not going to fit into Clemson.' ... We shake their hand and wish them the best of luck. And we might be disappointed at the time, but three years later we read about them in the paper and say, ‘You know, it all worked out for the best.’ That’s kind of the way we look at it.”
Good story in The Greenville News on Jake Nicolopulos signing his letter of intent.
“It is not the way we planned it,” said Ann Louise Nicolopulos, Jake’s mother. “But it was all about giving us hope, giving Jake hope, something to work for.
“This was his ultimate dream.”
More on Jake from the AP.
(Brad) Scott and Swinney visited Nicolopulos soon after the stroke when the teenager could not speak and only had control of the left side of his body. They presented him with a No. 9 Clemson jersey with his name on the back, Scott said.
"He clutched that thing and pulled it right up to his face with his good hand," Scott said. "I'll never, ever forget that."
Justin Parker's hometown paper writes about the crosstown rivals teaming up to play for the Tigers.
"It's just something, when you go around there, you realize that there's no place better; it's just like home," said Parker, who made his official visit to Clemson on the weekend of Jan. 9-11. "I realized that it's all about where you feel most comfortable and where you'll get a great education along with the football side.
"Those visits with them will be very memorable times in my life because it's just a family-type feel with (Clemson) coach (Dabo) Swinney and everybody else."
Just across town, about six hours earlier, Chaney solidified his prior verbal commitment with the Tigers in front of a handful of relatives at Battery Creek. The hybrid safety/linebacker is expected to redshirt next year in an effort to add bulk to his 6-foot-2, 200-pound build and polish his skills.
For Chaney, it was a similar vibe of comfort during a 2009 Junior Day visit that led him to voice his devotion to Clemson last May, well before the hoopla that led up to National Signing Day.
"From the first time I visited last year, it was just a great school with a great feeling," said Chaney, who recorded 52 tackles last season. "It's a small football town and I'm from a small town, so I think it's the perfect fit for me."
More on the Tigers' class in The Post and Courier, Independent-Mail and Greenville News.
Looks like Rich Rodriguez is attracting even more heat for his pursuit of Demar Dorsey.
The Free Press found a Demar Dorsey who was charged with two felonies a month apart in Florida’s Broward County in 2008. According to online circuit court records, the young man was arrested July 21, 2008 and charged with robbery with a deadly weapon. He was 16 at the time but was charged as an adult. Bond was set at $50,000. Dorsey went to trial that November and was acquitted.
Records also show the same person was charged Aug. 22, 2008 with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. He had turned 17 five days earlier. Bond was set at $3,500. Prosecutors dismissed the charge that December but records did not indicate why.
“I don’t think it’s fair to the young man and his family to pass judgments on something before you know the whole story,” Rodriguez said. “As a coach we get a chance to go visit these kids at the school, at their home and have them come up here and spend a weekend. You get to know them; certainly you get enough time to research and learn the whole story, not just what somebody’s written out there.”
Missed this from a few days ago, but Dr. Saturday does some number-crunching and tells us why we shouldn't totally dismiss recruiting rankings.
Paging Bart Wright...
N.C. State is losing three upperclassmen, according to Ken Tysiac.
Shifting to some basketball, Dorenzo Hudson has become a lead player for Virginia Tech.
Virginia is 5-2 in the ACC after last night's win over N.C. State. Unreal.
Georgia Tech is searching for a leader heading into tonight's game at Duke. Should be a fun one. Looking forward to it.
And back to football, Andy Staples has some excellent All-Name Team additions in this dispatch.
Now that New Orleans quarterback Munchie Legaux has signed with Cincinnati, we know where all the members of the 2010 All-Name Team are headed.
Honolulu safety Wave Ryder will attend Navy.
Gulfport, Miss., athlete Furious Bradley will attend Southern Miss.
Temple, Texas, tailback Lache Seastrunk will attend Oregon.
Calhoun, Ga., quarterback Nash Nance will attend Tennessee. Nance's teammate, Da'Rick Rogers, also will attend Tennessee.
Loganville, Ga., tailback Storm Johnson will be a Miami Hurricane. Tulsa would have been the only other acceptable school for a player named Storm to attend. OK, maybe Iowa State.
Charlotte, N.C. linebacker Prince Shembo will attend Notre Dame.
Toquavius Gilchrist, a linebacker from Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kan., will attend South Carolina.
Cary, N.C., defensive end Fre'shad Hunter will attend NC State.
Littleton, Colo., back Mister Jones will attend Texas A&M.
Miami offensive lineman Jose Jose -- the player so big they named him twice -- will attend Central Florida.
Of course, this year's names were only a warm-up for the greatest recruiting name of all time. In 364 days, Miami defensive end God's Power Offor will sign with some lucky program.
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
We'll know more about their ability as coaches in Year 2 of D.S. and Year 1 of P.S. (Post-Spiller).
But in the last 14 months, Clemson's staff has proven to be quite adept at this recruiting game.
Last year, they came out of nowhere to land Tajh Boyd and Bryce McNeal after spending October and November just trying to hold on to their jobs.
This year, they showed what they can do with more time -- and lots of hard work.
Who knows what this class will end up doing years down the road, but it's hard not to like how many of these kids picked Clemson and remained with Clemson despite heavy pushes from some notable competition.
It's hard not to like the fact that, despite striking out on a number of highly-regarded guys instate, the Tigers still put together an impressive class by doing some serious work outside the state -- most notably in the talent-rich Peach State.
Yesterday's signing-day press conference at Clemson was the normal song and dance, with Dabo and Jeff Scott saying they met their needs and all that. But a few things stood out to me.
Dabo pointed out that recruiting was at the forefront of his mind when he put together his coaching staff. Man, what an effort by Charlie Harbison in Georgia. And we can now see some of what Dabo saw in Scott when he promoted him to recruiting coordinator.
Scott spent some time with reporters yesterday, and we're going to have an extensive Q&A with Scott later this morning.
Listening to Scott's answers and the depth therein, you get a sense of not only the underlying philosophies of this staff, but also of the meticulous and driven way Scott conducts his duties as recruiting coordinator.
Here are some insights from Scott that indicate the 29-year-old has a pretty good feel for this thing:
“Bottom line, you get guys on campus and they know whether Clemson is right for them or not. And I tell them, ‘If Clemson is not right for you, promise me one thing: Don’t come to Clemson. Save your time and save our time.’ A lot of times they look at me strange, because they tell me I’m the first person that’s ever told them not to come to your school. Clemson is a special place for special people that find Clemson to be right for them.”
"That’s a crucial time in recruiting, is the December and January of a junior prospect. Because that’s really the first time they’re really starting to take a serious look at it. And if you can be in their schools – there’s juniors in this state where, if I could be there six times throughout December and January, I was there all six times and I was there about all day long. And they know it. And when everybody else starts showing up this spring, those prospects are going to remember, ‘Well, the guys from Clemson have been here for a while, and they’re not just showing up.’”
“There’s other prospects that you go meet and they’re big-time guys and you go visit with them, and after 30 minutes visiting with them you can tell: ‘Man, I really would love to have this guy, but he’s not going to fit into Clemson.' ... We shake their hand and wish them the best of luck. And we might be disappointed at the time, but three years later we read about them in the paper and say, ‘You know, it all worked out for the best.’ That’s kind of the way we look at it.”
Good story in The Greenville News on Jake Nicolopulos signing his letter of intent.
“It is not the way we planned it,” said Ann Louise Nicolopulos, Jake’s mother. “But it was all about giving us hope, giving Jake hope, something to work for.
“This was his ultimate dream.”
More on Jake from the AP.
(Brad) Scott and Swinney visited Nicolopulos soon after the stroke when the teenager could not speak and only had control of the left side of his body. They presented him with a No. 9 Clemson jersey with his name on the back, Scott said.
"He clutched that thing and pulled it right up to his face with his good hand," Scott said. "I'll never, ever forget that."
Justin Parker's hometown paper writes about the crosstown rivals teaming up to play for the Tigers.
"It's just something, when you go around there, you realize that there's no place better; it's just like home," said Parker, who made his official visit to Clemson on the weekend of Jan. 9-11. "I realized that it's all about where you feel most comfortable and where you'll get a great education along with the football side.
"Those visits with them will be very memorable times in my life because it's just a family-type feel with (Clemson) coach (Dabo) Swinney and everybody else."
Just across town, about six hours earlier, Chaney solidified his prior verbal commitment with the Tigers in front of a handful of relatives at Battery Creek. The hybrid safety/linebacker is expected to redshirt next year in an effort to add bulk to his 6-foot-2, 200-pound build and polish his skills.
For Chaney, it was a similar vibe of comfort during a 2009 Junior Day visit that led him to voice his devotion to Clemson last May, well before the hoopla that led up to National Signing Day.
"From the first time I visited last year, it was just a great school with a great feeling," said Chaney, who recorded 52 tackles last season. "It's a small football town and I'm from a small town, so I think it's the perfect fit for me."
More on the Tigers' class in The Post and Courier, Independent-Mail and Greenville News.
Looks like Rich Rodriguez is attracting even more heat for his pursuit of Demar Dorsey.
The Free Press found a Demar Dorsey who was charged with two felonies a month apart in Florida’s Broward County in 2008. According to online circuit court records, the young man was arrested July 21, 2008 and charged with robbery with a deadly weapon. He was 16 at the time but was charged as an adult. Bond was set at $50,000. Dorsey went to trial that November and was acquitted.
Records also show the same person was charged Aug. 22, 2008 with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. He had turned 17 five days earlier. Bond was set at $3,500. Prosecutors dismissed the charge that December but records did not indicate why.
“I don’t think it’s fair to the young man and his family to pass judgments on something before you know the whole story,” Rodriguez said. “As a coach we get a chance to go visit these kids at the school, at their home and have them come up here and spend a weekend. You get to know them; certainly you get enough time to research and learn the whole story, not just what somebody’s written out there.”
Missed this from a few days ago, but Dr. Saturday does some number-crunching and tells us why we shouldn't totally dismiss recruiting rankings.
Paging Bart Wright...
N.C. State is losing three upperclassmen, according to Ken Tysiac.
Shifting to some basketball, Dorenzo Hudson has become a lead player for Virginia Tech.
Virginia is 5-2 in the ACC after last night's win over N.C. State. Unreal.
Georgia Tech is searching for a leader heading into tonight's game at Duke. Should be a fun one. Looking forward to it.
And back to football, Andy Staples has some excellent All-Name Team additions in this dispatch.
Now that New Orleans quarterback Munchie Legaux has signed with Cincinnati, we know where all the members of the 2010 All-Name Team are headed.
Honolulu safety Wave Ryder will attend Navy.
Gulfport, Miss., athlete Furious Bradley will attend Southern Miss.
Temple, Texas, tailback Lache Seastrunk will attend Oregon.
Calhoun, Ga., quarterback Nash Nance will attend Tennessee. Nance's teammate, Da'Rick Rogers, also will attend Tennessee.
Loganville, Ga., tailback Storm Johnson will be a Miami Hurricane. Tulsa would have been the only other acceptable school for a player named Storm to attend. OK, maybe Iowa State.
Charlotte, N.C. linebacker Prince Shembo will attend Notre Dame.
Toquavius Gilchrist, a linebacker from Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kan., will attend South Carolina.
Cary, N.C., defensive end Fre'shad Hunter will attend NC State.
Littleton, Colo., back Mister Jones will attend Texas A&M.
Miami offensive lineman Jose Jose -- the player so big they named him twice -- will attend Central Florida.
Of course, this year's names were only a warm-up for the greatest recruiting name of all time. In 364 days, Miami defensive end God's Power Offor will sign with some lucky program.
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.