2017 National Signing Day Primer: Clemson Finishes Strong

Tomorrow is National Signing Day, a day when thousands of fans across the country pin their future hope on the decisions of a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds. Pretty crazy when you think about it. But because we can’t help ourselves, here is the status of Clemson’s 2017 class and what you may have missed over the past several years.

Clemson’s class is more or less complete. Several players have already enrolled for the spring semester, and Dabo has once again put together a rather stable class. A big surprise was the loss of RB Cordarrian Richardson. Unfortunately Richardson’s HS has been involved in a large grades scandal at it was unlikely he would ever be admitted to Clemson.

As unfortunate as losing Richardson was, the biggest surprise this year may be a commitment that never happened. One of Clemson’s biggest surprises was the decision by safety Xavier McKinney to commit to Alabama over Clemson. The 4 star prospect was considered a Clemson lock by many. 247’s Crystal Ball had him as 100% Clemson and many sources around both programs seemed to believe he was coming to Clemson. But McKinney was always going to do his own thing when it came to making a decision and he decided to go with Alabama.

But all is not lost, Clemson was able to recover from the loss of Richardson with the commitment of Travis Etienne last week. The Louisiana native was plucked out of the state by Clemson despite strong interest for LSU. Unfortunately the staff seems likely to pocket a scholarship for next year rather than offering another safety in this class.

For the players actually coming to Clemson, things are in good shape. This may be the deepest class Clemson has put together in years. The downside, it is extremely small. Right now it stands at 14 commits with 1 scholarship available. Barring something crazy this shouldn’t be a big day for Clemson. Or at least one full of surprises. Most of the commits should send in their LOIs earlier in the day, but some may wait until school ends. Remember that these kids are still doing the whole school thing.

We’ll have previews of each commit as the day goes on as well as coverage of any breaking news. Feel free to use this as an open thread during the day to discuss National Signing Day.

Update: For a list of all existing previews, head over to our Story Stream here. We'll be publishing commit profiles all day.