3 Years of Talent Acquisition

TigerJake · Sep 4, 2024

Comparing how Clemson’s talent acquisition stacks up against this week’s top 10 looking at last 3 years rivals HS recruiting rankings and another service portal data.

Total HS and transfer acquisitions and defections for a total net roster impact of recruiting and transfer portal. This does not include the quality of the recruiting class/transfer impact, but have that information and can post separately if anyone interested.

First thing to point out is 9 of the current top 10 are current B1G and SEC. The 10th is Notre Dame. I don't think there is any coincidence into how the payout those 10 receive impact their ability to use the portal.

On average, Clemson’s HS recruiting numbers on par with the overall top 10 average at 24 to 23.5. As we all know, Clemson is far below on Portal acquisitions vs the average of the top 10 – 9.2 to 0.67. We have significantly less attrition on average than the top 10 – 11.33 to 19.70.

		2022					2023					2024					3 YR Avg
AP RANK	SCHOOL	HS Commits	Transfer In	Total In	Transfer Out	Net Change	HS Commits	Transfer In	Total In	Transfer Out	Net Change	HS Commits	Transfer In	Total In	Transfer Out	Net Change	HS Commits	Transfer In	Total In	Transfer Out	Net Change
1	Georgia (57)	30	0	30	14	16	26	4	30	15	15	29	9	38	25	13	28.33	4.33	32.67	18.00	14.67
2	Ohio State (5)	21	2	23	18	5	20	9	29	11	18	22	8	30	26	4	21.00	6.33	27.33	18.33	9.00
3	Texas	28	7	35	22	13	25	5	30	29	1	22	11	33	25	8	25.00	7.67	32.67	25.33	7.33
4	Alabama	24	5	29	19	10	28	5	33	20	13	28	14	42	31	11	26.67	8.00	34.67	23.33	11.33
5	Notre Dame	22	3	25	14	11	23	7	30	12	18	23	9	32	18	14	22.67	6.33	29.00	14.67	14.33
6	Ole Miss	16	17	33	23	10	17	24	41	33	8	22	25	47	23	24	18.33	22.00	40.33	26.33	14.00
7	Oregon	17	10	27	15	12	29	15	44	31	13	27	12	39	18	21	24.33	12.33	36.67	21.33	15.33
8	Penn State	25	4	29	11	18	23	7	30	15	15	26	6	32	16	16	24.67	5.67	30.33	14.00	16.33
9	Missouri	19	10	29	19	10	19	12	31	23	8	21	15	36	18	18	19.67	12.33	32.00	20.00	12.00
10	Michigan	22	3	25	11	14	25	10	35	14	21	26	8	34	22	12	24.33	7.00	31.33	15.67	15.67
Top 10	Average	22	6	29	17	12	24	10	33	20	13	25	12	36	22	14	23.50	9.20	32.70	19.70	13.00
25	Clemson	20	1	21	11	10	26	1	27	12	15	26	0	26	11	15	24.00	0.67	24.67	11.33	13.33

Everyone can draw own conclusions on how we should use portal, but the obvious fact is that Clemson uses completely differently than the rest of the current top 10 in supplementing HS recruiting– especially the top 4 which is where we ultimately would like to be.

If I am making a completely mathematical decision, I am going to immediately adjust talent acquisition to target full classes of 25 +/- a couple and 6 portal acquisitions. The top teams are also processing almost twice as many players through the portal as Clemson. And...we can't get to B1G or SEC fast enough!

I've been internally (mostly) critical/skeptical of @DandyDozen12 @kingkyle1008 @Steven15 and the many others who so loudly and vigorously beat the roster management drum, but the numbers don't lie - ignoring the transfer portal is a recipe for mediocrity.

TigerJake · Sep 4, 2024