Clemson Recruiting: Artavis Scott Update and SPARQ

I am going to go ahead and put it out there that I believe Artavis Scott of Tarpon Springs FL (5'11 180) will commit to Clemson tonight on ESPNU at 9pm (for those of you who care about timing I put this on Twitter this morning). Clemson has been gaining significant ground here in the past few weeks and Scott has basically shut down his recruitment. We have actually had a lot of coverage on SBNation recently so I am going to try and link to some of the fine work going on. Here is a small piece on Bud Elliott's scouting report for Scott:

The first thing that jumps off the tape when watching Scott is his quickness. Sure, Scott has blazing speed, but it is the quickness with which he climbs to his top gear that is so impressive. Not only does Scott use his quickness with the ball in hands, with which he is really electric, but also to get open. Scott is deadly on stop-and-go routes. There really aren't any defenders in high school who can handle him on underneath routes in man coverage. Scott is so quick that East Lake High School even lines him up as a defensive end in pass rushing situations, and asks him to speed around the offensive tackle. Scott does not have the best moves, but he knows it and elects to use his speed and quickness to gain yards.

I agree with Bud completely. He is one of the premiere playmakers of this 2014 class. Interesting to note the last line here on the paragraph that Scott may lack a bit of wiggle, which can only be seen watching him in person (Bud covers FSU and knows the state of Florida better than just about anyone so I really trust this assessment). Regardless his quickness and speed are his major asset but he still has the ability to climb the ladder for a guy his size. I think the picture for this article shows how he can get up in traffic. He possesses above average hands and like most high school receivers will needs to work on his route running skills a bit (although this was not a big weakness when he was at the recent Clemson camp).

Scott responded well to coaching at Clemson and bonded with coaches and players like Sammy Watkins and Tajh Boyd. Current players who have a level of popularity are such an asset. We will miss Boyd and Sammy as recruiters next year as well--some guys can just connect to other players. Our main competition for a long while was Michigan but they recently got another WR commit and on Twitter Scott said that eliminated them. His teammate Mason Cole is already a Michigan commit. Scott's former QB, Pete DiNovo, committed to UCF last year and Scott visited the campus many times. He is very familiar with the program and I consider them our main competition. Florida is also in the running but many within their program think Scott is going to Clemson.

I don't think this is exactly over though. Many programs, especially UCF, will not stop recruiting Scott. There are also some questions on grades (still very early) which may factor in here ultimately. Scott is a big pick-up for our WR recruiting though, make no mistake about it.

I love the SPARQ Combine because it really helps to bring some kind of reality to high school football recruiting and especially 40 times. Here is a link to the results, only three of the best players in the nation ran sub 4.4 times. One of those was 2015 WR (friend and teammate of Scott) George Campbell who ran a 4.36 as a junior in high school. He should be the number one WR in next year's class. I was surprised to see that Scott only ran a 4.62 40 and actually stands at 5'10 and a half. If you look at the results you can see some other returns for Clemson commits and targets. DeShaun Watson ran a 4.89 40, McMillan ran a 4.79, Trevion Thompson ran a 4.73, Chris Register a 5.0, Lorenzo Carter 4.63. Andrew Williams was a fast 4.7. Even Dalvin Cook and his blazing speed timed a 4.46.

Once again Spurrier is right that it is best to play Georgia at the beginning of the season. The true 'Georgia Way' Placekicker Marshall Morgan was arrested for Boating Under the Influence (BUI) over the weekend. You would think that would be at least a one game suspension. Morgan is the starter.