This week we will get an idea of the talent on both Clemson's and Georgia Tech's squads based solely on data pulled from Rivals and Scout from 2006 - 2010 recruiting classes. Clemson's average star rating was consistently much better than UMd last week. The numbers show that Clemson, over the past 5 years, has been able to reel in better quality talent than GT.
This is the second consecutive week that Clemson's average (recruited) player's rating is superior to their opponent's. The average star rating per player was clearly better for Clemson in all classes except 2007 and 2009. In these two seasons then the talent each team brought in was close based on the avg star rating. This also means that if depth is not a factor, Clemson should be able to win one on one matchups based on average talent per player alone. (more after the jump)
Figure 1: Yearly Average Recruiting Star Ratings
Figure 2, shown below, examines the class sizes of the past five recruiting classes for each school. Amazingly, Clemson signed more players than Tech in all classes except 2009 and averaged signing 2 more players a year than our Atlanta-based counterpart.
This comparison shows that quality depth should not be an issue for the Tigers as we prepare for the Yellow Jackets as we have brought in/signed more talent than the opposition.
Figure 2: Class Size per Team
The overall recruiting rankings show Clemson having a huge lead in the average class ranking over the past 5 years. Clemson did have the outlier year (2009) which hurt the Tigers but Tech also recruited a small class in 2006. Clemson clearly outrecruited Tech in each class except 2007 and 2009 when the two ranked closely in this category.
Figure 3: Annual National Recruiting Rankings
Clemson has done a superior job--according to the "experts"--recruiting over the course of the past half decade. The data in Figure 3 shows a combination of the two items we saw above: Clemson has consistently done a better job on the recruiting trail than GT over the past decade. The Tigers recruited superior talent and signed more players.