Weekly Clemson News and Recruiting Links

We as Clemson fans/students/alumni were privileged to see a record breaking performance by our True Freshman Quarterback, Deshaun Watson. Even with his record breaking day of six touchdowns, Watson was not flawless according to himself and Offensive Coordinator Chad Morris. The flaws in a few decisions made were easily blocked out as we were treated to something special. It is great to see that the coaching staff is holding Watson to a very high standard. It is also great to see that Deshaun is holding himself to a very high standard. DW is on his way to leading us to special things. It is hard not to be excited about the future.

The offense is still young but showed what it can do on Saturday and the future is bright for this unit. The defense was stellar in the first half but fell apart in the second half. Brent Venables and the defensive coaching staff need to find a way to stop a habit formed this season by the Tigers of falling apart on defense in the second halves of games. It was also encouraging to see Ammon Lakip rebound from his miserable performance in Tallahassee by going 3 for 3 on field goals in the Valley on Saturday. It is obvious that Lakip is nowhere near as comfortable kicking on the road as he is at Death Valley. To be an effective kicker for this team going forward he is going to need gain more confidence and become more focused from distractions away from home.

Now on to weekly news and recruiting links......

Clemson basketball gets commitment from point guard Ty Hudson - Post and Courier

A non-football related positive from Saturday was a big one for the basketball program. Brad Brownell and Co. landed a coveted prospect that will provide depth at the point guard position for the next few years. We are losing our team leader and point guard, Rod Hall after this season so I expect to see Hudson get some minutes early. An encouraging start to our next recruiting class, the coaching staff is now focused on finding a wing and a post player to fill up what is expected to be a 3 man recruiting class for the 2015 cycle.

Watson, Pinion Honored By ACC - Clemson Tigers Official Athletics Site

After the 'Deshaun Watson show' on Saturday, our new starting quarterback nabbed two more weekly awards from the ACC after winning Rookie of the Week last week after his performance against FSU. And after kicking three punts inside the twenty and four touchbacks on kickoff, Bradley Pinion earned Co-Specialist of the Week in the ACC.

Tigers nab commitment from elite 2016 OF Seth Beer - Orange and White Story

Another non-football related success from Saturday. The baseball staff landed one of the top players in the country for the 2016 recruiting cycle in Seth Beer. Beer batted .589 with 10 home runs and 56 RBIs to help lead Lambert High School in Suwanee, Georiga, to a a Georgia 6A championship. Beer was also a pitcher for Lambert as he finished the season with a 6-0 record and a 0.53 ERA on the mound as well as striking out 43 batters in 39.1 innings. Beer is expected to be an outfielder for the Tigers. Now the hard part is to get him back to campus and convince him to forego the MLB Draft. That will be a challenge for Leggett and Co. as Beer will be rated high on many MLB draft boards after his final year of High School ball.

Clemson Football Recruiting: Tigers Host Elite 2016 Prospects Feaster, Pinckney

With the 2015 recruiting class almost complete for Dabo and Co. the focus has now moved onto the 2016 recruiting class. A few of the more highly touted recruits were on campus for the game on Saturday including Tavien Feaster, a five star on 247. We are currently the clear front runners for the services of this running back out of Spartanburg.

SEC Network to televise USC-Clemson basketball game - Post and Courier

Not totally significant but many of us will not be looking forward to the telecast of this game. I expect a lot of Coot bias from the network and broadcasters(even in basketball) on the biggest joke of a television channel.

Four-star defensive lineman Darian Roseboro decommits from Michigan

As Quacking Tiger mentioned in his article earlier, a former Clemson target de-committed from playing for Brady Hoke and Co. at Michigan. The favorite for Roseboro's services is currently NC State but we were also very much in the mix for him. Let's see if the coaching staff is interested in recruiting hard for him to fill one of the final spots in the current recruiting class and to improve the overall depth on the defensive line. I see him more of as a defensive tackle with his overall size.