Clemson has a strong 2024 recruiting class, but it wasn’t strong enough for 247Sports to label them a winner from the recruiting cycle.
Rather, Clemson has been named a loser in the 2024 recruiting cycle, and the explanation for the label is… interesting. From their perspective, Clemson being outside of the top 10 can’t be happening.
Typically, Clemson wins in recruiting. They win with top players. They landed two top players this cycle. That list usually has 5-10. When you look at the middle of the pack guys, they have developmental players. I’m not saying that they don’t have players that can help them win. But this is Clemson. They beat Alabama twice in the national championship game. They’re taking a step backward. They should be in the top 5; now they’re out of the top 10.
Let’s talk about this for a second. Clemson is No.11 in the country according to 247Sports rankings, but with the way this writer is speaking, you’d assume they are off the face of the planet and have a recruiting class outside of the top 20. They are right there at No.11, and this class has some excellent talent.
Let’s also reflect on the past. Is this class as highly touted as one of the past? No… but neither was their 2023 class, which ranked No.11 for 247Sports. If being ranked 11 was such a big deal, wouldn’t Clemson’s 2023 class have also suffered? There were even rumblings from analysts saying exactly this last year, and what happened? Well, what happened was that Clemson had one of the best and most impactful freshmen classes in the country.
While I understand the expectation side of things, I would not label Clemson a loser from this recruiting cycle. The talent is there, and this coaching staff has proven they can assess talent at an elite level.