Clemson vs. Troy Depth Chart Comparison

This is our first depth chart comparison of the season.  Today we'll compare the Clemson and Troy depth charts as presented via the Clemson University athletic website, www.clemsontigers.com.  I'll continue to give a shout out to RazzMcTazz for previous research and his interest in this work.

We should not have to tell you this, but some folks debate what to take from these articles.  We expect you, the reader, to form an opinion of your own.  Often we will give you our take on things, but you should independently form your own thoughts based on information out there.  This article shows recruiting data for the depth chart roster as referenced above.  It does not weigh experience nor does it evaluate coaching, preparation, etc...  We think this is an interesting and valuable tool that is useful in overall program evaluation because there is a link between these star ratings and other metrics in both college football and the NFL.

Keep in mind as you look through this data that only players who were officially signed were given a "Star Rating".  Players who were not signed could not be quantitatively assessed a recruiting rating.  Such players get a "NA" rating and were not included in the averaged data.  Again, all data was attained from www.Scout.com and www.Rivals.com.  Players whose Scout/Rivals data was not available but were signed were assigned a "NR".  We picked carefully through the data and believe all is correct.  However, if we've overlooked an item we appologize in advance and ask that you point it out so that we can make the correction in our database.

Figure 1 and Table I both show an average of offensive players, defensive players, and specialist listed on the two-deep roster.   Tables II through IV show the two-deep roster used for analysis along with the recruiting ratings for each player on the roster.  Clemson completely dominates this comparison.

I'll admit, Troy recruits in a "non-standard" format, including a lot of junior College transfers and players who many schools thought would not qualify.  I am not knocking Troy.  I commend their staff for bringing in the talent that wins five consecutive conference championships.  I'll also say that Troy's talent is better than the star ratings credit.

Clemson's talent is, however, much better all around when you consider the incoming star ratings.  Take this for what it's worth, but that is how we stand (data after the jump).