Clemson Recruiting Updates: No News Is Good News??

Here are just a few recruiting updates though to tide you over until fall camp:

The entire team was given ipads today to do film study and break down plays whenever players want. This is a very good move by Swinney and DRad and just one of those little things that can be used to boost recruiting. Support staff, recruiting innovations and getting the AD to work for the football team are all strengths that Swinney has brought to the program.

Quick basketball note, hearing Ibrahim Djambo will indeed be unchained. That is the expectation with the Brownell camp. Djitte and Djambo didn't get to go to Italy, but at least they should eventually be good for the season.

DE Rick Leonard (6'7 250), WR Trey Quinn (6'1 190), and OL Nolan Kelleher (6'6 310) are all playing is so close to the vest that no one really knows what is going on. Lots of misinformation floating around out there and it has been frustrating to nail things down. What we do know is that with Quinn and Leonard the longer the wait, the better it is for Clemson. Hearing that FSU has the advantage after the official visit with Rick Leonard but that was close to a week ago that I got that info. The longer Quinn and Leonard hold off, the better it is for Clemson.

A source told me that the FSU coaches are feeling confident about landing Leonard after the camp. Before the camp I think FSU was slow playing this one but they seem to be fine with offering Leonard as a DE but have mainly viewed him as a kind of jumbo athlete who could play TE or OT at the next level. FSU is pretty stacked at DE with Mario Edwards Jr. and Fowler but Leonard doesn't see that as a problem. The commitment of Falcinelli, his high school teammate, does help Clemson but it remains to be seen whether or not that will actually help us in the end. The longer this goes, the better for Clemson since Leonard was going to have a decision by the end of July. Too close to call right now but I give a razor thin edge to FSU right now. Clemson had been leading up until the FSU visit.

Trey Quinn really likes Clemson a lot but is getting a lot of surrounding pressure to stay close to home. Totally expected and while we can sit here and say that it would be silly for a guy of his talent to go and block for four years, you can't underestimate that hometown/in-state pull that is much stronger with Louisiana kids than in other places. The delay is good for us but this one is too close to call and I don't think anyone really knows where he will go. LSU coaches like their chances which is never a good sign but many predicted he would commit after going to the LSU camp.

Quinn had set a tentative date to announce but that has been completely changed. It now sounds like he will be waiting through the season. What we don't know is if LSU is kind of slow playing this a bit as they wait for some other more high profile WR's like Malachi Dupre. It is also possible that Quinn is slow playing LSU--certainly his relation with our coaching staff is making this a tough choice for Quinn. This one could go either way.

I expected that Nolan Kellleher would commit as soon as he got a solid Clemson offer this spring. Kelleher is supposed to announce this Saturday. He has a lot of suitors coming after him and a bunch of options right now. The main teams I keep hearing are Florida, Tennessee, Stanford (although they didn't offer), and Clemson. Thing is he said his choice would be a surprise and there is no reason to think he is purposefully playing games. Clemson wasn't going to offer Kelleher but he slimmed down last year, losing 20-25 pounds, and really looks like a completely different player. Some still question his foot quickness but he is definitely a take. He grew up a Clemson fan so everyone thought we would have the inside track once we offered.

Very smart kid and won't be led into tipping his hand one way or the other. He has not given the Clemson staff a silent commitment according to what I know.  Florida is the buzz school right now but Tennessee is the other darkhorse because he enjoyed his visit there. Florida recruiting sites are predicting Kelleher to them based on communication with the UF staff. However, at this point there is no silent commitment--just that the UF coaches feel confident. Kelleher was at the All-In BBQ, which is where you would have expected him to commit. Again, too close to call but not a good sign that he didn't just go ahead and call Clemson as soon as he had the offer.

As you can tell I am frustrated because this is the first time I have been so in the dark with three recruits--this close to their signing. Usually we know things and have to wait to put it out but this time I am mostly in the dark.

LB Raekwon McMillan will be in the Valley with his entire family on August 31st as we take on Georgia. We have been losing ground in this recruitment to Alabama and Ohio State for a couple of months now. Bama has been selling him on getting to the NFL. Urban Meyer has really persuaded McMillan that Ohio State is a good fit. We need to make a good impression on him and the family at the game to keep in the lead pack.