The Clemson Tigers should prepare from some losses on the recruiting trail.
For years, the Clemson Tigers owned the recruiting circuit. They would perennially post some of the best recruiting classes in the country, and Dabo Swinney was the envy of everyone in college football outside of Nick Saban. And even that was close.
While that wasn't too long ago, it now feels like a different world.
Clemson has fallen very far from is perch and is now viewed as just another team in the pedestrian ACC. So how do you think the Tigers are now viewed among recruits?
Yes, Clemson is still a big name, but that's all it is: just a name. The days of the Tigers legitimately contending appear to be over, and that is a tough pill to swallow.
Clemson has put together a decent recruiting class for 2027. It currently ranks 13th in the nation. But don't think for a second that the Tigers can't lose some of those commits based on the way they have looked thus far this season.
Players do not just attend a college because they like the coach. They also want to win and be developed in a way that boosts their NFL potential.
Clemson once offered that in spades. That just isn't the case anymore.
Don't get it twisted: players love Swinney. You won't find anyone saying a bad word about him. But players also love success, and after going 7-6 last season, getting embarrassed 51-10 by LSU in Week 1 this year and barely beating Georgia Southern in Week 2, just how appealing are the Tigers right now?
Clemson once rivaled Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Georgia, etc. when it came to landing the top prospects available. You name the big school, and Clemson was right there with them. But that was almost a decade ago now.
Times have changed, and Swinney's previously reliable methods no longer work. The NCAA landscape has been altered far too much, and the Tigers have gotten left behind.
Clemson will still bag some recruits because of the brand. But it won't be getting those four and five-star talents with regularity anymore.
You're already starting to see that with the class of 2028, as the Tigers have secured just one commit thus far. Sure, it's really early in the process, but programs like Alabama and Ohio State — among many others — are already far ahead.
It's not that Clemson isn't trying. It's that it simply isn't capable at this stage.
