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Special Teams Recruiting Analysis: Clemson vs. ACC Coastal 2006 - Present

Today, we compare Clemson's special teams recruiting endeavors to ACC Coastal teams.  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 players ended up at a different position ball after they arrived on campus for any of the schools in this article.

We probably need to tell you that this analysis is very different from the others because special teams is extremely unique.  Typically, special teams units are largely composed of non-starting position players and walk-ons.  Many specialists, particularly kickers, who play vital roles in the games are preferred walk-ons who are able to earn playing time through special teams.  We'll show the data for special teams recruiting but don't really know how vital all these numbers are based upon the impact of non-starters who play special teams and the large number of walk-ons we see week after week.

Table I and Figure 1 (below) both illustrate Clemson's ranking based on defensive line class size since 2006.  Clemson (at 0.67 players per class) was tied with a host of other teams for most players annually signed.  Interestingly, Virginia Tech had the fewest ST players signed since 2006 with one signee in 2009.

Table I:  Recruiting Class Size

Class Size

Team

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

AVERAGE

Clemson

1

0

2

0

0

1

0.67

Duke

1

1

1

0

0

1

0.67

Georgia Tech

0

0

0

0

1

1

0.33

Miami (Fl)

1

0

1

0

0

2

0.67

North Carolina

0

2

0

1

0

1

0.67

Virginia

0

1

1

0

0

0

0.33

Virginia Tech

0

0

0

1

0

0

0.17

ACC Coastal Average

0.4

0.8

0.6

0.2

0.2

1

0.53

Players_signed_individual_team_graph_clem_vs_acc_coastal_medium
Figure 1:  Individual Institution Recruiting Class Size

Players_signed_graph_clem_vs_acc_coastal_medium
Figure 2:  Average non-Clemson vs Clemson Recruiting Class Size

 

Table II and Figure 3 show the average star-rating per player for each team, as shown below.  Clemson (2.58 stars/player) finished behind Miami (2.67) in this category.  Clemson's average was buoyed by signing Greer native Richard Jackson (three stars with both services) back in the 2006 class.

We show all special teams players signed by Clemson and Coastal division teams in Table III

Table II:  ACC Coastal Team Average Player Star Rating

Average Star Rating (per player)

Team

Service

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

AVERAGE

Clemson

Scout

3.00

NA

2.50

NA

NA

3.00

2.83

Rivals

3.00

NA

2.00

NA

NA

2.00

2.33

Average

3.00

NA

2.25

NA

NA

2.50

2.58

Duke

Scout

2.00

2.00

2.00

NA

NA

3.00

2.25

Rivals

2.00

2.00

2.00

NA

NA

2.00

2.00

Average

2.00

2.00

2.00

NA

NA

2.50

2.13

Georgia Tech

Scout

NA

NA

NA

NA

2.00

2.00

2.00

Rivals

NA

NA

NA

NA

2.00

2.00

2.00

Average

NA

NA

NA

NA

2.00

2.00

2.00

Miami (Fl)

Scout

4.00

NA

2.00

NA

NA

2.50

2.83

Rivals

3.00

NA

2.00

NA

NA

2.50

2.50

Average

3.50

NA

2.00

NA

NA

2.50

2.67

North Carolina

Scout

NA

2.00

NA

2.00

NA

2.00

2.00

Rivals

NA

2.00

NA

2.00

NA

2.00

2.00

Average

NA

2.00

NA

2.00

NA

2.00

2.00

Virginia

Scout

NA

2.00

2.00

NA

NA

NA

2.00

Rivals

NA

2.00

2.00

NA

NA

NA

2.00

Average

NA

2.00

2.00

NA

NA

NA

2.00

Virginia Tech

Scout

NA

NA

NA

3.00

NA

NA

3.00

Rivals

NA

NA

NA

2.00

NA

NA

2.00

Average

NA

NA

NA

2.50

NA

NA

2.50

ACC Coastal Average

Scout

3.00

2.00

2.00

2.50

2.00

2.38

2.31

Rivals

2.50

2.00

2.00

2.00

2.00

2.13

2.10

Average

2.75

2.00

2.00

2.25

2.00

2.25

2.21

Players_star_rating_individual_team_graph_clem_vs_acc_coastal_medium
Figure 3:  ACC Atlantic Schools' Recruiting Average Player Star Rating

Players_star_rating_graph_clem_vs_acc_coastal_medium
Figure 4:  Average ACCCoastal  vs Clemson Recruiting Class Average Player Star Rating 

Table III:  ACC Coastal Special Teams Signees (2006 to Present)

Player

Class

Scout

Rivals

High School

Hometown

HT/WT/40

College

Position

Richard Jackson

2006

3

3

Riverside HS

Greer, SC

5-11/180/4.70

Clemson

K

Spencer Benton

2008

2

2

Myrtle Beach HS

Myrtle Beach, SC

6-3/190

Clemson

K

Dawson Zimmerman

2008

3

2

Brookwood HS

Snellville, GA

6-2/195

Clemson

P

Ammon Lakip

2011

3

2

Chattahoochee HS

Alpharetta, GA

5-11/175

Clemson

K

Justin Moore

2010

2

2

Marist School

Atlanta, GA

5-10/160

Georgia Tech

K

Sean Tobin

2011

2

2

St. John Vianney Regl HS

Holmdel, NJ

6-3/230

Georgia Tech

LS

Matt Bosher

2006

4

3

Jupiter HS

Jupiter, FL

6-1/180

Miami (Fl)

K

Jake Wieclaw

2008

2

2

Lincoln-Way Central HS

New Lenox, IL

6-1.5/175

Miami (Fl)

K

Dalton Botts

2011

2

3

Moorpark

Moorpark, CA

6-3/200

Miami (Fl)

P

Matt Goudis

2011

3

2

Chaminade College Prep

West Hills, CA

6-0/165

Miami (Fl)

K

Terrence Brown

2007

NA

NA

Fresno

Fresno, CA

-/-

North Carolina

P

Jay Wooten

2007

2

2

Scotland HS

Laurinburg, NC

6-3/175

North Carolina

K

C.J. Feagles

2009

2

2

Ridgewood HS

Ridgewood, NJ

5-11/180

North Carolina

P

Miller Snyder

2011

2

2

Myers Park HS

Charlotte, NC

6-2/185

North Carolina

K

Cody Journell

2009

3

2

Giles HS

Pearisburg, VA

5-11/175

Virginia Tech

K

Kevin Jones

2006

2

2

Bowie HS

Austin, TX

6-4/215

Duke

P

Nick Maggio

2007

2

2

St. Thomas Aquinas HS

Overland Park, KS

6-4/180

Duke

P

Paul Asack

2008

2

2

Xaverian Brothers HS

Westwood, MA

6-2/200

Duke

K

Will Monday

2011

3

2

Flowery Branch HS

Flowery Branch, GA

6-3/180

Duke

P

Chris Hinkebein

2007

2

2

Providence HS

Charlotte, NC

6-1.5/190

Virginia

K

Jimmy Howell

2008

2

2

West Florence HS

Florence, SC

6-6/240/4.90

Virginia

P

Again, with special teams being comprised on walk-ons and position players, it is tough to fully understand what these numbers really mean.  Even with kickers, many starting kickers/punters come to school as a walk-on or preferred walk-on and earn the kicking duties through almost a tryout process.  This system makes a meaningful recruiting analysis extremely difficult when you base your opinions on the Scout/Rivals ratings only.