Re Clemson’s O-line: I think you gave a good summary. It’s a host of factors that are all intertwined.
1. Caldwell, while a decent coach, didn’t seem to put the effort in to recruit at a high level, and was allowed to hang around too long because Clemson was still winning and running guys off is not really Dabo’s MO. Austin was out of his…
Re Clemson’s O-line: I think you gave a good summary. It’s a host of factors that are all intertwined.
1. Caldwell, while a decent coach, didn’t seem to put the effort in to recruit at a high level, and was allowed to hang around too long because Clemson was still winning and running guys off is not really Dabo’s MO. Austin was out of his depth. Chips all the way in on Matt Luke.
2. Poor recruiting + they get knocked on the recruiting trail for doing poorly in the draft – no first rounders ever I’m pretty sure. So that will continue to be an issue until it isn’t.
3. Small recruiting classes – This is what the hardcore fans rant about the most (portal aside). Dabo’s refusal to process players is both to his credit and his Achilles’ Heel because it creates these “artificial” limits on the class size every cycle and O-line more than any other position is one you need to take a high volume at every year it seems. Clemson hits at a high rate at most positions, but I’d say the O-line hit rate in recent years has not been ideal. Maybe 50% of guys they sign end up contributing, and some of that is because of necessity not because they're good, so competitive depth becomes an issue even though Dabo trumpets they’re 10 deep every offseason.
Below are the number of O-line commits in recent classes. Georgia for comparison.
To piggyback off that the sneaky under the radar take that I’ve seen implied in an off the record fashion from inside the program is that a lot of Clemson’s shortcomings in recent years can be attributed to poor recruiting evaluation in the Covid era.
Obviously it affected everybody, but since getting guys on campus is a bedrock of Dabo’s recruiting philosophy (you don’t officially get an offer until you visit on your own dime) Covid really blew up how they recruit + Dabo wasn't going to skirt the rules – then layer on smaller classes, no processing, and no portal additions… End result is if they’re not hitting on recruits at a high rate you get the past few seasons. So we’ll see moving forward if future classes get back to what they were – last year like 6 freshman held prominent roles by the end of the season fwiw.
Also despite playing their inaugural season in Death Valley, the Panthers have never taken a Tiger.
Re Clemson’s O-line: I think you gave a good summary. It’s a host of factors that are all intertwined.
1. Caldwell, while a decent coach, didn’t seem to put the effort in to recruit at a high level, and was allowed to hang around too long because Clemson was still winning and running guys off is not really Dabo’s MO. Austin was out of his depth. Chips all the way in on Matt Luke.
2. Poor recruiting + they get knocked on the recruiting trail for doing poorly in the draft – no first rounders ever I’m pretty sure. So that will continue to be an issue until it isn’t.
3. Small recruiting classes – This is what the hardcore fans rant about the most (portal aside). Dabo’s refusal to process players is both to his credit and his Achilles’ Heel because it creates these “artificial” limits on the class size every cycle and O-line more than any other position is one you need to take a high volume at every year it seems. Clemson hits at a high rate at most positions, but I’d say the O-line hit rate in recent years has not been ideal. Maybe 50% of guys they sign end up contributing, and some of that is because of necessity not because they're good, so competitive depth becomes an issue even though Dabo trumpets they’re 10 deep every offseason.
Below are the number of O-line commits in recent classes. Georgia for comparison.
1. ‘19 – 3 commits (3)
2. ‘20 – 6 commits (6)
3. ’21 – 4 commits (4)
4. ’22 – 2 commits (5)
5. ’23 – 3 commits (5)
6 ’24 – 4 commits (6)
To piggyback off that the sneaky under the radar take that I’ve seen implied in an off the record fashion from inside the program is that a lot of Clemson’s shortcomings in recent years can be attributed to poor recruiting evaluation in the Covid era.
Obviously it affected everybody, but since getting guys on campus is a bedrock of Dabo’s recruiting philosophy (you don’t officially get an offer until you visit on your own dime) Covid really blew up how they recruit + Dabo wasn't going to skirt the rules – then layer on smaller classes, no processing, and no portal additions… End result is if they’re not hitting on recruits at a high rate you get the past few seasons. So we’ll see moving forward if future classes get back to what they were – last year like 6 freshman held prominent roles by the end of the season fwiw.
Also despite playing their inaugural season in Death Valley, the Panthers have never taken a Tiger.