Here are a few bullets and housekeeping issues deemed noteworthy on the eve of NSD

• The Keenan Allen/Zack Maynard saga is still keeping us on our toes.  Sources indicate the two were in California over the weekend and appeared impressed with what they saw out of the Golden Bears.  Those in the know associated with both Clemson and Alabama recruiting seem to believe that they will find a home out West, not here in the Southeast.  Picking up Allen (a Rivals Top 10 prospect) would have been great for this class.  This story, however, has had too many twists and turns to close the book on until it is over.  I will be away from all communication today and would not be surprised if this plot thickens even more by the time I get home this evening.  Clemson has had some nice signing day surprises over the past few years and I am HOPING (yet not too confident) that we can somehow land this pair. 
• As we all know, this is a dead period for recruiting but I believe (not 100% sure) the schools can talk with a prospect if the prospect initiates the conversation.  For those interested, we have discussed quiet and dead periods in previous posts but an NCAA schedule on these events can be found here.  Obviously this recruiting class as well as the overall direction and state of the Clemson football program will be examined over the next few weeks.
• Clemson got a much needed win Sunday over Maryland and will travel to Blacksburg Saturday to face Virginia Tech.  Clemson will receive an important mid-week break this week and Tech has a game Thursday with UNC.  We will be chatting with the guys at Gobbler Country over the week to get their perspective on this team and this matchup.  This will be a winnable game for Clemson but the Tigers still have some errors to correct and Stitt is still nursing an injured ankle.  After VT, Clemson will host FSU, Miami, and Virginia before heading to Maryland.  Clemson really needs to win 4 of these 5 games to position itself well for postseason play, and I think this is an attainable goal.
• Baseball is heating up.  The big topic for the next month or so will be Kyle Parker's future.  I will not get too deep into this subject because all major media outlets will write about this and it is way too early in the game to speculate where he will be come August.
• Dr B has been working on some fundamental basketball strategies that he will share with us soon.  I encourage everyone to read these articles and pay attention to these strategies during actual game play, as Clemson will show these looks repeatedly over the next few weeks.
• After reading this piece by Maize 'n Brew about adjustments to some age-old traditions (here they have a humorous view on piped in music), I started thinking about some peripheral items that have changed (better or worse) over the years at good old CU.  While these are not worthy of examination now, a good analysis of likes and dislikes (from uniforms to music to facilities to Tigerwalk) sounds like good conversation in our downtime period.
Otherwise, let's have a good one and hope this class can add one or two nice surprises tomorrow morning like this one: