Offensive Line Recruiting Analysis: Clemson vs. Non-ACC 2006 to Present

Today, we compare Clemson's offensive line recruiting endeavors to ACC Atlantic foes.  Assumptions made in creating this article can be found here.  I should point out that we strictly used www.scout.com position classifications.  It is possible that some offensive linemen ended up on the defensive side of the ball after they arrived on campus for any of the schools in this article.

Table I and Figure 1 (below) both illustrate Clemson's ranking based on OL class size since 2006.  Figure 2 shows how CU compares on average to its non-ACC foes overall.  Clemson (at 3.83 players per class) recruited fewer offensive linemen than any of the non-ACC teams that we examined.  The Tigers, on average, recruited more players than GT, UNC, and Virginia Tech.  Clemson trailed the average by over 0.60 linemen per class.  Interestingly, the team with the next fewest signed linemen was Alabama (4.17 players per class), who recruited about 1/3 of a lineman more per class than the Clemson Tigers.

Table I:  Recruiting Class Size

    
 Figure 1:  Recruiting Class Size

  
Figure 2:  Recruiting Class Size Average Comparison  

Table II and Figure 3 show the average star-rating per player for each team, as shown below.  Clemson (3.18 stars/player) trailed all teams except South Carolina and South Florida in terms of avg star rating per class.  Clemson got drilled in this category by Bama (3.64 stars per player) and LSU (3.54 stars per player).  Clemson trailed the overall average by 0.07 stars per player.  Again, I will note that South Florida's scores were severely lower than others used in this analysis.

Table I I:  Team Average Player Star Rating

Figure 3:  Recruiting Average Player Star Rating

 
 Figure 4:  Recruiting Class Average Player Star Rating

Overall, Clemson got covered in general by the rest of the field throughout this analysis.  Clemson brought in the fewest linemen of any of the teams we looked at here.  Clemson also trailed four of the six teams polled in terms of stars per player.  While we at STS always want to recruit and sign the best players possible, we think that the lack of numbers signed is much more detrimental than the ability of those who were signed.  We would like Clemson to increase the number of linemen signed each season and get on par with our non-ACC foes in this area.