Clemson travels to Hotlanta to face Coastal foe Georgia Tech on Saturday night. We'll see how this squad's recruited talent compares to our Clemson Tigers. Before we get into the analysis, I'll point out that I have taken the depth charts for both teams DIRECTLY from the Clemson website (www.clemsontigers.com). A pdf version of this can be found here. I will go ahead and tell you that because of injuries and Monday depth chart adjustments, some items here may end up a little out of place come gametime. I won't try to interpret or guess. In an effort to maintain consistency, I'll use both teams' depth charts as presented on the official Clemson Athletics website.
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 apologize 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 depth chart.
Again, Clemson has better RECRUITED talent than its opponent. The Tigers are over 3/4 of a star better on average on offense, over a quarter star on average better on defense, and 0.6 stars on average better overall, including CU crushing the Jackets on Special Teams. If games were played on paper, you would say that the Tigers would have a decided advantage based solely on recruited talent alone.
Team | Recruiting Service | Offense | Defense | Specialists | Overall Average |
Clemson | Scout | 3.46 | 3.25 | 3.71 | 3.40 |
Rivals | 3.62 | 3.29 | 3.29 | 3.44 | |
Average | 3.54 | 3.27 | 3.50 | 3.42 | |
Georgia Tech | Scout | 2.90 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 2.82 |
Rivals | 2.86 | 3.00 | 2.14 | 2.82 | |
Average | 2.88 | 3.00 | 2.07 | 2.82 |
Clemson Offense | Georgia Tech Offense | |||||||||||||||
Pos. | # | Player | Hgt | Wgt | Cl. | Scout | Rivals | Pos. | # | Player | Hgt | Wgt | Cl. | Scout | Rivals | |
LT | 79 | PHILLIP PRICE | 6-5 | 315 | *Sr. | NA | NA | LT | 64 | RAY BENO | 6-2 | 290 | *So. | 2 | 3 | |
63 | Brandon Thomas | 6-3 | 300 | *So. | 4 | 4 | 57 | Catlin Alford | 6-3 | 295 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 | |||
LG | 63 | BRANDON THOMAS | 6-3 | 300 | *So. | 4 | 4 | LG | 52 | WILL JACKSON | 6-3 | 285 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |
73 | David Smith | 6-5 | 310 | *Gr. | 3 | 3 | 70 | Shaq Mason | 6-1 | 295 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | |||
C | 55 | DALTON FREEMAN | 6-5 | 285 | *Jr. | 4 | 4 | C | 50 | JAY FINCH | 6-3 | 283 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |
62 | Mason Cloy | 6-3 | 310 | *Gr. | 3 | 3 | 76 | Nick McRae | 6-3 | 291 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | |||
RG | 74 | ANTOINE McCLAIN | 6-6 | 335 | Sr. | 4 | 4 | RG | 77 | OMOREGIE UZZI | 6-3 | 300 | *Jr. | 4 | 4 | |
62 | Mason Cloy | 6-3 | 310 | *Gr. | 3 | 3 | 71 | J.C. Lanier | 6-4 | 298 | *So. | 4 | 4 | |||
RT | 72 | LANDON WALKER | 6-6 | 305 | *Gr. | 4 | 4 | RT | 61 | PHIL SMITH | 6-5 | 292 | *Jr. | 3 | 2 | |
70 | Gifford Timothy | 6-6 | 315 | *Fr. | 2 | 3 | or | 69 | TYLER KIDNEY | 6-2 | 262 | *So. | N/A | N/A | ||
TE | 83 | DWAYNE ALLEN | 6-4 | 255 | *Jr. | 4 | 4 | WR | 5 | STEPHEN HILL | 6-5 | 206 | Jr. | 4 | 3 | |
80 | Brandon Ford | 6-4 | 235 | *Jr. | 3 | 4 | 80 | Daniel McKayhan | 6-0 | 198 | *Jr. | 2 | 2 | |||
86 | Sam Cooper | 6-4 | 240 | *Fr. | 2 | 2 | QB | 13 | TEVIN WASHINGTON | 6-0 | 205 | *Jr. | 3 | 2 | ||
WR | 6 | DeANDRE HOPKINS | 6-1 | 200 | So. | 4 | 4 | 10 | Synjyn Days | 6-1 | 212 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 | ||
1 | Martavis Bryant | 6-5 | 205 | Fr. | 4 | 4 | AB | 17 | ORWIN SMITH | 6-0 | 202 | Jr. | 2 | 3 | ||
QB | 10 | TAJH BOYD | 6-1 | 225 | *So. | 5 | 4 | 24 | Embry Peeples | 5-10 | 185 | Sr. | 3 | 3 | ||
8 | Cole Stoudt | 6-4 | 200 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | BB | 7 | DAVID SIMS | 6-0 | 218 | *So. | 3 | 3 | ||
RB | 23 | ANDRE ELLINGTON | 5-10 | 190 | *Jr. | 4 | 4 | 27 | Preston Lyons | 6-0 | 211 | *Sr. | N/A | N/A | ||
22 | D.J. Howard | 5-11 | 195 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 | or | 21 | Charles Perkins | 6-0 | 219 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 | ||
5 | Mike Bellamy | 5-10 | 175 | Fr. | 4 | 5 | AB | 20 | RODDY JONES | 5-9 | 202 | *Sr. | 3 | 3 | ||
25 | Roderick McDowell | 5-9 | 190 | *So. | 3 | 4 | 9 | Tony Zenon | 5-8 | 182 | *Fr. | 2 | 2 | |||
FB | 30 | CHAD DIEHL | 6-2 | 260 | *Sr. | 2 | 3 | WR | 84 | TYLER MELTON | 6-0 | 206 | Sr. | 2 | 2 | |
WR | 18 | JARON BROWN | 6-2 | 200 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | 81 | Jeff Greene | 6-4 | 200 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | ||
19 | Charone Peake | 6-3 | 205 | Fr. | 4 | 4 | ||||||||||
26 | Marquan Jones | 5-10 | 195 | Sr. | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||
WR | 2 | SAMMY WATKINS | 6-1 | 200 | Fr. | 5 | 5 | |||||||||
13 | Adam Humphries | 6-0 | 190 | Fr. | 3 | 2 |
Clemson Defense | Georgia Tech Defense | |||||||||||||||
Pos. | # | Player | Hgt | Wgt | Cl. | Scout | Rivals | Pos. | # | Player | Hgt | Wgt | Cl. | Scout | Rivals | |
DE | 97 | MALLICIAH GOODMAN | 6-4 | 280 | Jr. | 4 | 4 | OLB | 45 | JEREMIAH ATTAOCHU | 6-3 | 223 | So. | 3 | 3 | |
90 | Kourtnei Brown | 6-6 | 255 | *Gr. | 4 | 4 | 42 | Malcolm Munroe | 6-3 | 232 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | |||
NG | 98 | BRANDON THOMPSON | 6-2 | 310 | Sr. | 4 | 4 | DE | 92 | JASON PETERS | 6-4 | 270 | *Sr. | 4 | 4 | |
43 | Tyler Shatley | 6-3 | 295 | *So. | 3 | 3 | 93 | Emmanuel Dieke | 6-6 | 264 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |||
DT | 94 | RENNIE MOORE | 6-3 | 265 | *Sr. | 3 | 3 | DT | 96 | LOGAN WALLS | 6-2 | 299 | *Sr. | 3 | 3 | |
99 | DeShawn Williams | 6-1 | 290 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | 90 | T.J. Barnes | 6-7 | 347 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | |||
BE | 40 | ANDRE BRANCH | 6-5 | 260 | *Sr. | 2 | 2 | DE | 94 | IZAAN CROSS | 6-4 | 292 | Jr. | 3 | 3 | |
93 | Corey Crawford | 6-5 | 280 | Fr. | 4 | 4 | 99 | Euclid Cummings | 6-4 | 270 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |||
SLB | 34 | QUANDON CHRISTIAN | 6-2 | 220 | *So. | 3 | 3 | OLB | 34 | STEVEN SYLVESTER | 6-2 | 238 | Sr. | 3 | 3 | |
41 | Daniel Andrews | 5-11 | 205 | Sr. | 2 | 2 | 11 | Brandon Watts | 6-2 | 234 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |||
MLB | 42 | CORICO HAWKINS | 5-11 | 230 | Jr. | 3 | 3 | ILB | 40 | JULIAN BURNETT | 5-10 | 220 | Jr. | 3 | 2 | |
12 | Stephone Anthony | 6-3 | 235 | Fr. | 5 | 5 | 54 | Quayshawn Nealy | 6-1 | 220 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 | |||
33 | Spencer Shuey | 6-3 | 250 | *So. | 3 | 3 | ILB | 54 | QUAYSHAWN NEALY | 6-1 | 220 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 | ||
WLB | 46 | JONATHAN WILLARD | 6-2 | 220 | *Jr. | 3 | 4 | or | 30 | DANIEL DRUMMOND | 6-3 | 248 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |
8 | Justin Parker | 6-1 | 225 | So. | 3 | 4 | 58 | B.J. Machen | 6-1 | 232 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | |||
CB | 15 | COTY SENSABAUGH | 6-0 | 185 | *Gr. | 2 | 2 | LCB | 6 | ROD SWEETING | 6-0 | 184 | Jr. | 4 | 3 | |
17 | Bashaud Breeland | 6-0 | 185 | *Fr. | 4 | 3 | 36 | Jamal Golden | 6-0 | 185 | Fr. | 2 | 3 | |||
SS | 5 | JONATHAN MEEKS | 6-1 | 210 | Jr. | 4 | 4 | LS | 1 | ISAIAH JOHNSON | 6-2 | 205 | So. | 3 | 3 | |
27 | Robert Smith | 5-11 | 210 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | 16 | Corey Dennis | 6-2 | 205 | Fr. | 2 | 3 | |||
FS | 31 | RASHARD HALL | 6-1 | 210 | J*Gr. | 3 | 3 | RS | 28 | RASHAAD REID | 5-10 | 191 | Sr. | 3 | 2 | |
32 | Carlton Lewis | 6-2 | 205 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | 14 | Jemea Thomas | 5-10 | 190 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |||
CB | 29 | XAVIER BREWER | 5-11 | 190 | *Jr. | 4 | 3 | RCB | 8 | LOUIS YOUNG | 6-1 | 201 | So. | 4 | 4 | |
21 | Darius Robinson | 5-11 | 170 | So. | 3 | 4 | 35 | Michael Peterson | 5-11 | 190 | *Sr. | 2 | 3 | |||
14 | Martin Jenkins | 5-9 | 175 | So. | 3 | 3 |
Clemson Specialists | Georgia Tech Specialists | |||||||||||||||
Pos. | # | Player | Hgt | Wgt | Cl. | Scout | Rivals | Pos. | # | Player | Hgt | Wgt | Cl. | Scout | Rivals | |
PK | 39 | CHANDLER CATANZARO | 6-2 | 200 | *So. | NA | NA | PK | 86 | JUSTIN MOORE | 5-10 | 171 | So. | 2 | 2 | |
P | 96 | DAWSON ZIMMERMAN | 6-2 | 205 | Sr. | 3 | 2 | 44 | David Scully | 6-2 | 201 | *So. | N/A | N/A | ||
KO | 96 | Dawson Zimmerman | 6-2 | 205 | *Sr. | 3 | 2 | P | 82 | SEAN POOLE | 6-1 | 161 | *So. | N/A | N/A | |
or | 39 | Chandler Catanzaro | 6-2 | 200 | *So. | NA | NA | or | 85 | CHANDLER ANDERSON | 6-0 | 180 | *Sr. | N/A | N/A | |
LS (PK) | 75 | Michael Sobeski | 6-2 | 195 | *Fr. | NA | NA | KO | 44 | David Scully | 6-2 | 201 | *So. | N/A | N/A | |
52 | Phillip Fajgenbaum | 6-0 | 220 | *Fr. | NA | NA | 86 | Justin Moore | 5-10 | 171 | So. | 2 | 2 | |||
LS (P) | 52 | Phillip Fajgenbaum | 6-0 | 220 | *Fr. | NA | NA | LS | 55 | Sean Tobin | 6-3 | 220 | Fr. | 2 | 2 | |
75 | Michael Sobeski | 6-2 | 195 | *Fr. | NA | NA | H | 82 | Sean Poole | 6-1 | 161 | *So. | N/A | N/A | ||
H | 96 | Dawson Zimmerman | 6-2 | 205 | *Sr. | 3 | 2 | PR | 37 | Zach Laskey | 6-1 | 201 | Fr. | 2 | 2 | |
PR | 6 | DeAndre Hopkins | 6-1 | 200 | So. | 4 | 4 | 9 | Tony Zenon | 5-8 | 182 | *Fr. | 2 | 2 | ||
2 | Sammy Watkins | 6-1 | 200 | Fr. | 5 | 5 | KOR | 9 | Tony Zenon | 5-8 | 182 | *Fr. | 2 | 2 | ||
KOR | 2 | Sammy Watkins | 6-1 | 200 | Fr. | 5 | 5 | or | 17 | Orwin Smith | 6-0 | 202 | Jr. | 2 | 3 | |
18 | Jaron Brown | 5-10 | 190 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 |