Clemson cruises up to Blacksburg Virginia this weekend to face the Virginia Tech Hokies. 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.
The first thing you will notice here is the overall advantage Clemson has in terms of stars per player over Virginia Tech. Clemson clearly has out recruited the Hokies in terms of high school talent on the two-deep depth chart. This is also a great example of how great coaching and good fundamental play can overcome talent alone. Virginia Tech's coaching staff routinely takes teams with lower rated talent and wins conference championships over teams with superior rated recruited talent.
Team | Recruiting Service | Offense | Defense | Specialists | Overall Average |
Clemson | Scout | 3.44 | 3.29 | 3.22 | 3.35 |
Rivals | 3.56 | 3.38 | 3.00 | 3.40 | |
Average | 3.50 | 3.33 | 3.11 | 3.38 | |
Virginia Tech | Scout | 3.00 | 2.71 | 2.91 | 2.86 |
Rivals | 2.95 | 3.08 | 2.73 | 2.96 | |
Average | 2.98 | 2.90 | 2.82 | 2.91 |
Figure 1: Overall Depth Chart Talent Comparison
Clemson Offense | Virginia 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 | 72 | ANDREW LANIER | 6-5 | 306 | *Sr. | 2 | 2 | |
63 | Brandon Thomas | 6-3 | 300 | *So. | 4 | 4 | 54 | Nick Becton | 6-6 | 326 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | |||
LG | 63 | BRANDON THOMAS | 6-3 | 310 | *Gr. | 4 | 4 | LG | 75 | GREG NOSAL | 6-6 | 297 | *Sr. | 3 | 2 | |
73 | David Smith | 6-5 | 310 | *Gr. | 3 | 3 | 59 | Courtney Prince | 6-3 | 282 | *Jr. | 2 | 2 | |||
C | 55 | DALTON FREEMAN | 6-5 | 285 | *Jr. | 4 | 4 | C | 74 | ANDREW MILLER | 6-4 | 290 | *So. | 2 | 3 | |
62 | Mason Cloy | 6-3 | 310 | *Gr. | 3 | 3 | 79 | Caleb Farris | 6-3 | 309 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | |||
RG | 74 | ANTOINE McCLAIN | 6-6 | 335 | Sr. | 4 | 4 | RG | 68 | JAYMES BROOKS | 6-2 | 307 | *Sr. | 3 | 3 | |
62 | Mason Cloy | 6-3 | 310 | *Gr. | 3 | 3 | 67 | Michael Via | 6-7 | 292 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | |||
RT | 72 | LANDON WALKER | 6-6 | 305 | *Gr. | 4 | 4 | RT | 62 | BLAKE DeCHRISTOPHER | 6-5 | 311 | *Sr. | 3 | 4 | |
70 | Gifford Timothy | 6-6 | 315 | *Fr. | 2 | 3 | 71 | Vinston Painter | 6-6 | 303 | *Jr. | 4 | 4 | |||
TE | 83 | DWAYNE ALLEN | 6-4 | 255 | *Jr. | 4 | 4 | TE | 33 | CHRIS DRAGER | 6-4 | 264 | *Sr. | 3 | 3 | |
80 | Brandon Ford | 6-4 | 235 | *Jr. | 3 | 4 | 86 | Eric Martin | 6-2 | 269 | *So. | 2 | 2 | |||
86 | Sam Cooper | 6-4 | 240 | *Fr. | 2 | 2 | SE | 81 | JARRETT BOYKIN | 6-2 | 218 | Sr. | 3 | 3 | ||
WR | 6 | DeANDRE HOPKINS | 6-1 | 200 | So. | 4 | 4 | or | 18 | D.J. COLES | 6-3 | 224 | Jr. | 4 | 4 | |
1 | Martavis Bryant | 6-5 | 205 | Fr. | 4 | 4 | QB | 3 | LOGAN THOMAS | 6-6 | 254 | *So. | 5 | 4 | ||
QB | 10 | TAJH BOYD | 6-1 | 225 | *So. | 5 | 4 | 6 | Mark Leal | 6-0 | 209 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 | ||
8 | Cole Stoudt | 6-4 | 200 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | TB | 4 | DAVID WILSON | 5-10 | 205 | Jr. | 4 | 3 | ||
RB | 23 | ANDRE ELLINGTON | 5-10 | 190 | *Jr. | 4 | 4 | 2 | Josh Oglesby | 5-11 | 218 | *Sr. | 3 | 3 | ||
5 | Mike Bellamy | 5-10 | 175 | Fr. | 4 | 5 | FB | 45 | JOEY PHILLIPS | 5-11 | 221 | *Jr. | N/A | N/A | ||
22 | D.J. Howard | 5-11 | 195 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 | 25 | Martin Scales | 5-11 | 207 | *Jr. | N/A | N/A | |||
25 | Roderick McDowell | 5-9 | 190 | *So. | 3 | 4 | FLK | 19 | DANNY COALE | 6-0 | 200 | *Sr. | 3 | 2 | ||
FB | 30 | CHAD DIEHL | 6-2 | 260 | *Sr. | 2 | 3 | 7 | Marcus Davis | 6-4 | 228 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | ||
84 | Darrell Smith | 6-2 | 245 | *So. | 3 | 2 | or | 83 | Corey Fuller | 6-2 | 189 | *Jr. | 2 | 3 | ||
WR | 18 | JARON BROWN | 6-2 | 200 | *Jr. | 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 | Virginia 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 | DE | 42 | J.R. COLLINS | 6-2 | 240 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |
90 | Kourtnei Brown | 6-6 | 255 | *Gr. | 4 | 4 | 95 | Zack McCray | 6-4 | 254 | *Fr. | 4 | 4 | |||
NG | 98 | BRANDON THOMPSON | 6-2 | 310 | Sr. | 4 | 4 | 90 | Duan Perez-Means | 6-4 | 248 | *Fr. | 2 | 3 | ||
43 | Tyler Shatley | 6-3 | 295 | *So. | 3 | 3 | DT | 98 | DERRICK HOPKINS | 6-0 | 301 | So. | 2 | 2 | ||
DT | 94 | RENNIE MOORE | 6-3 | 265 | *Sr. | 3 | 3 | 96 | Corey Marshall | 6-1 | 253 | Fr. | 4 | 4 | ||
99 | DeShawn Williams | 6-1 | 290 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | DT | 56 | ANTOINE HOPKINS | 6-1 | 306 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | ||
BE | 40 | ANDRE BRANCH | 6-5 | 260 | *Sr. | 2 | 2 | 92 | Luther Maddy | 6-1 | 283 | Fr. | 2 | 2 | ||
93 | Corey Crawford | 6-5 | 280 | Fr. | 4 | 4 | DE | 99 | JAMES GAYLE | 6-4 | 257 | *So. | 2 | 3 | ||
SLB | 34 | QUANDON CHRISTIAN | 6-2 | 220 | *So. | 3 | 3 | 66 | Tyrel Wilson | 6-1 | 219 | *So. | 2 | 4 | ||
8 | Justin Parker | 6-1 | 225 | So. | 3 | 4 | OLB | 43 | JERON GOUVEIA-WINSLOW | 6-2 | 205 | *Jr. | 2 | 3 | ||
41 | Daniel Andrews | 5-11 | 205 | Sr. | 2 | 2 | 28 | Alonzo Tweedy | 6-2 | 189 | *Jr. | 2 | 2 | |||
MLB | 42 | CORICO HAWKINS | 5-11 | 230 | Jr. | 3 | 3 | LB | 24 | TARIQ EDWARDS | 6-3 | 231 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |
12 | Stephone Anthony | 6-3 | 235 | Fr. | 5 | 5 | 57 | Telvion Clark | 6-1 | 228 | *So. | 3 | 3 | |||
33 | Spencer Shuey | 6-3 | 250 | *So. | 3 | 3 | LB | 51 | BRUCE TAYLOR | 6-2 | 243 | *Jr. | 3 | 4 | ||
WLB | 46 | JONATHAN WILLARD | 6-2 | 220 | *Jr. | 3 | 4 | 52 | Barquell Rivers | 6-0 | 250 | *Sr. | 3 | 3 | ||
7 | Tony Steward | 6-1 | 245 | Fr. | 4 | 5 | CB | 17 | KYLE FULLER | 6-0 | 187 | So. | 3 | 3 | ||
CB | 15 | COTY SENSABAUGH | 6-0 | 185 | *Gr. | 2 | 2 | 9 | Cris Hill | 5-11 | 180 | *Sr. | 3 | 4 | ||
17 | Bashaud Breeland | 6-0 | 185 | *Fr. | 4 | 3 | ROV | 15 | EDDIE WHITLEY | 6-1 | 200 | Sr. | 3 | 3 | ||
SS | 5 | JONATHAN MEEKS | 6-1 | 210 | Jr. | 4 | 4 | 23 | Boye Aromire | 6-0 | 201 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | ||
27 | Robert Smith | 5-11 | 210 | Fr. | 3 | 3 | FS | 1 | ANTONE EXUM | 6-0 | 220 | *So. | 3 | 3 | ||
FS | 31 | RASHARD HALL | 6-1 | 210 | J*Gr. | 3 | 3 | 26 | James Hopper | 5-9 | 180 | *So. | 2 | 2 | ||
32 | Carlton Lewis | 6-2 | 205 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | or | 21 | Theron Norman | 6-3 | 196 | *Fr. | 2 | 3 | ||
CB | 29 | XAVIER BREWER | 5-11 | 190 | *Jr. | 4 | 3 | CB | 20 | JAYRON HOSLEY | 5-10 | 171 | Jr. | 3 | 4 | |
21 | Darius Robinson | 5-11 | 170 | So. | 3 | 4 | 8 | Detrick Bonner | 6-0 | 189 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 |
Clemson Specialists | Virginia 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 | 89 | CODY JOURNELL | 5-11 | 178 | *So. | 3 | 2 | |
36 | Ammon Lakip | 5-10 | 185 | Fr. | 3 | 2 | 48 | Justin Myer | 6-1 | 220 | Sr. | N/A | N/A | |||
P | 96 | DAWSON ZIMMERMAN | 6-2 | 205 | Sr. | 3 | 2 | P | 29 | SCOTT DEMLER | 5-11 | 194 | *Jr. | N/A | N/A | |
13 | Spencer Benton | 6-2 | 195 | *Jr. | 2 | 2 | or | 19 | DANNY COALE | 6-0 | 200 | *Sr. | 3 | 2 | ||
KO | 13 | Spencer Benton | 6-2 | 195 | *Jr. | 2 | 2 | 38 | Michael Branthover | 5-8 | 179 | Fr. | N/A | N/A | ||
LS | 52 | Phillip Fajgenbaum | 6-0 | 220 | *Fr. | NA | NA | KO | 48 | Justin Myer | 6-1 | 220 | Sr. | N/A | N/A | |
75 | Michael Sobeski | 6-2 | 195 | *Fr. | NA | NA | 89 | Cody Journell | 5-11 | 178 | *So. | 3 | 2 | |||
H | 13 | Spencer Benton | 6-2 | 195 | *Jr. | 2 | 2 | LS | 50 | Collin Carroll | 6-3 | 232 | *Sr. | 2 | 2 | |
PR | 6 | DeAndre Hopkins | 6-1 | 200 | So. | 4 | 4 | 65 | Joe St. Germain | 6-1 | 213 | *Fr. | N/A | N/A | ||
2 | Sammy Watkins | 6-1 | 200 | Fr. | 5 | 5 | H | 16 | Trey Gresh | 6-1 | 205 | *Fr. | N/A | N/A | ||
KOR | 2 | Sammy Watkins | 6-1 | 200 | Fr. | 5 | 5 | 6 | Mark Leal | 6-0 | 209 | *Fr. | 3 | 3 | ||
18 | Jaron Brown | 5-10 | 190 | *Jr. | 3 | 3 | PR | 20 | Jayron Hosley | 5-10 | 171 | Jr. | 3 | 4 | ||
19 | Danny Coale | 6-0 | 200 | *Sr. | 3 | 2 | ||||||||||
KOR | 4 | David Wilson | 5-10 | 205 | Jr. | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
& | 22 | Tony Gregory | 6-0 | 190 | *So. | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
9 | Cris Hill | 5-11 | 180 | *So. | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||
& | 31 | Demitri Knowles | 6-0 | 167 | Fr. | 3 | 3 |