Friday 02/05/2016
•Clemson signed 23 players from 10 different states. The 10 different states are the most in a class since 1994 when Clemson had 24 signees from 10 different states. The record is 14 different states in 1989.
•Clemson had four USA Today All-Americans in Tavien Feaster (1st), Dexter Lawrence (1st), Shaq Smith (2nd) and Trayvon Mullen (2nd). This ties for the most USA Today All-Americans in one Clemson signee class. The newspaper has selected a team since 1983. Clemson’s 2011 class also had four USA Today All-Americans.
Dabo Swinney has now signed 12 USA Today All-Americans. The program had just seven between 1990 and 2008.
•Thirteen different members of the 2016 class ranked in the top 300 by at least one service. Eleven of them were in the top 150 by at least one. Dexter Lawrence was the highest rated with a No. 2 ranking by Rivals, 247 Sports and Scout. He ranked in the top seven of seven different services.
•Ten members of the class played in either the Under Armour All-American game, the US Army game or the Semper Fidelis All-American game.
•Six services conducted a national team recruiting ranking and Clemson was in the top 14 in all six with a high of fifth by Rivals. Clemson’s average ranking for the six services was 9.6.
•Clemson had two signees from the state of Kansas, Xavier Kelly and Isaiah Simmons. Clemson had just two total signees from that state dating to 1972. The last time Clemson had a signee from Kansas was in 1996 (Jason Gamble).
•Brian Dawkins, Jr. is the first Clemson signee from the state of Colorado.
•J.C. Chalk is the first Clemson signee from the state of Texas since Clint LaTray in 2003.
•Clemson had four signees from the state of North Carolina for the third straight year and for the fifth time in the last six years.
•Clemson ranked eighth in the final ESPN recruiting rankings, the sixth straight year Clemson has been in the top 13 and the 11th straight year in the top 20.
•Clemson’s highest ranking was by Rivals, a No. 5 rating. The Tigers were fourth in 2015 according to Rivals and have been in the top 14 each of the last six years.
•Six of Clemson’s signees were ranked in the top 150 by ESPN. That gives Clemson 38 top 150 players according to ESPN since 2010, or the first year Dabo Swinney had a full year to recruit as head coach.
•Dexter Lawrence (6), Trayvon Mullen (18) and Shaq Smith (21) were all ranked in the top 21 by ESPN. Clemson and Mississippi were the only schools to have three of the top 21 players in the nation according to ESPN.
•Lawrence (2), Smith (6) and Tre Lamar (16) were all in the top 16 players in the nation by Rivals. Clemson was the only school with three of the top 20 players in the nation by Rivals. Clemson had four top 100 players according to Rival and now has 24 since 2010, tied for 11th most in the nation with Tennessee.
•Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables was named the National Recruiter of the Year by Rivals, the top recruiter in the ACC by Scout, and the No. 5 recruiter in the nation by 247 Sports.
•Jeff Scott was ranked as the No. 18 recruiter in the nation by 247 Sports.
All-America Teams and Game Participation
USA Today All-Americans (4): Tavien Feaster (1st), Dexter Lawrence (1st), Shaq Smith (2nd), Trayvon Mullen (2nd).
Parade All-Americans (3): Dexter Lawrence (1st), Tavien Feaster (HM), Trayvon Mullen (HM)
Clemson signees by State (10) : South Carolina 5, Georgia 5, North Carolina 4, Florida 2, Kansas 2, Texas 1, Colorado, 1, Maryland 1, Alabama 1, Virginia 1.
Under Armour All-Americans: Tre Lamar, Shaq Smith
US Army All-Americans: Tavien Feaster, Dexter Lawrence, Xavier Kelly, Trayvon Mullen, John Simpson.
Semper Fidelis All-Americans: J.C. Chalk, T.J. Chase, Sean Pollard
Player Rankings
ESPN Top 300: Dexter Lawrence (6), Trayvon Mullen (18), Shaq Smith (21), Tavien Feaster (53), Tre Lamar (89), Diondre Overton (135), Xavier Kelly (154), Sean Pollard (173), Zerrick Cooper (217), John Simpson (232), Niles Pinckney (261).
247 Sports Top 247: Dexter Lawrence (2), Tavien Feaster (14), Shaq Smith (18), Tre Lamar (37), Trayvon Mullen (60), Xavier Kelly (84), John Simpson (151), Diondre Overton (195), T.J. Chase (196), Colin Powell (224), Sean Pollard (240), Zerrick Cooper (246),
Rivals Top 300: Dexter Lawrence (2), Shaq Smith (6), Tre Lamar (16), Collin Powell (36), Tavien Feaster (102), T.J. Chase (115), Trayvon Mullen (117), Xavier Kelly (141), Sean Pollard (177) Niles Pinckney (196), Zerrick Cooper (230), Diondre Overton (234).
Scout Top 300: Dexter Lawrence (2), Tavien Feaster (27), Trayvon Mullen (72), Xavier Kelly (113), Sean Pollard (129), Tre Lamar (163), John Simpson (183), Zerrick Cooper (220), Diondre Overton (231), Shaq Smith (247).
Prep Stars Top 300: Dexter Lawrence (5), Shaq Smith (28), Tavien Feaster (57), Trayvon Mullen (81), Tre Lamar (98), Collin Powell (153), Xavier Kelly (154), Niles Pinckney (174), T.J. Chase (224), Diondre Overton (261), Zerrick Cooper (287).
Tom Lemming Top 100: Dexter Lawrence (7), Shaq Smith (17), Tavien Feaster (38), Trayvon Mullen (66), Niles Pinckney (79), Tre Lamar (80).
Final Team Recruiting Rankings
ESPN
1.Florida State, 2. Alabama, 3. LSU, 4. Mississippi, 5. Ohio State, 6. Michigan, 7. Georgia, 8. Clemson, 9. Auburn, 10. Texas, 11. Southern California, 12. Florida, 13. Stanford, 14. Tennessee, 15. UCLA, 16. Notre Dame, 17. Baylor, 18. Penn State, 19. Miami (FL), 20. Texas A&M.
Rivals
1. Alabama, 2. Florida State, 3. Ohio State, 4. Michigan, 5. Clemson, 6. LSU, 7. Mississippi, 8. Southern California, 9. Auburn, 10. Georgia, 11. UCLA, 12. Notre Dame, 13. Texas, 14. Florida, 15. Tennessee, 16. Texas A&M, 17. Baylor, 18. Stanford, 19. Oklahoma, 20. Michigan State.
Scout
1. Alabama, 2. Ohio State, 3. Florida State, 4. LSU, 5. Mississippi, 6. Michigan, 7. UCLA, 8. Texas, 9. Georgia, 10. Florida, 11. Southern California, 12. Auburn, 13. Notre Dame, 14. Clemson, 15. Stanford, 16. TCU, 17. Tennessee, 18. Michigan State, 19. Baylor, 20. Texas A&M.
Bleacher Report
1. Alabama, 2. Florida State, 3. LSU, 4. Ohio State, 5. Michigan, 6. Mississippi, 7. Georgia, 8. Southern California, 9. Clemson, 10. Auburn, 11. Texas, 12. UCLA, 13. Florida, 14. Notre Dame, 15. Tennessee, 16. Stanford, 17. Baylor, 18. Penn State, 19. Texas A&M, 20. Oklahoma.
Prep Stars
1. Ohio State, 2. Florida State, 3. LSU, 4. Michigan, 5. Alabama, 6. Mississippi, 7. Georgia, 8. Stanford, 9. UCLA, 10. Southern California, 11. Auburn, 12. Clemson, 13. Texas, 14. Notre Dame, 15. Florida, 16. Wisconsin, 17. Baylor, 18. Penn State, 19. Tennessee, 20. Michigan State.
247 Sports
1. Alabama, 2. Florida State, 3. LSU, 4. Ohio State, 5. Michigan, 6. Mississippi, 7. Georgia, 8. Southern California, 9. Auburn, 10. Clemson, 11. Texas, 12. UCLA, 13. Florida, 14. Tennessee, 15. Notre Dame, 16. Stanford, 17. Baylor, 18. Texas A&M, 19. Penn State, 20. Oklahoma.
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