The Clemson Tigers have been a recruiting monster under Dabo Swinney, so what does their early 2018 signing day class look like?
Since Dabo Swinney’s arrival as the head coach of the Clemson Tigers, things have obviously turned around in a big way. They’ve been to two-straight National Championship games — winning one — and they now are in the College Football Playoff once again. It’s hard to say that Swinney’s ability to recruit hasn’t been an immense reason behind the success of the program in recent years.
It’s not just one type of player that the head coach has been able to lure to Clemson over the years. Obviously there are guys like Deshaun Watson that have been game-changers. However, when you look at the team this year with their elite defense, there are other big names. Clelin Ferrell, Christian Wilkins, Austin Bryant and so on are all studs that Swinney brought in to play for the Tigers.
As fate would have it, that’s not about to stop either. We’ve reached another important date in the recruiting period with early signings ramping up about a month and a half before National Signing Day.
With that, let’s take a look at their early signing day class via 247 Sports:
Obviously landing quarterback Trevor Lawrence is huge as he’s the No. 1 overall recruit in the country, which means he’s the best at the position as well. However, their other current 5-star recruit in Xavier Thomas could have more of an immediate impact. At defensive end, there should be a whole to fill after this season with the majority of the front likely heading to the NFL.
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Clemson is currently not even in the top 10 recruiting classes, but that could certainly change moving forward. Swinney always has some tricks up his sleeve and it’s almost a certainty that he’ll vault up the rankings in the near future.