SIGNING DAY A.M. Nuggets
By: Paul Strelow
The early signing period has arrived, and Clemson's signings will fill in through the course of the morning.
The Tigers have 22 commitments expected to seal the deal with submitted signatures.
Then as you know, there’s Highland Springs (Va.) four-star defensive back Malcolm Greene – the LSU commitment TigerIllustrated.com has projected to flip to Clemson.
Columbia (S.C.) Hammond School five-star defensive end Jordan Burch discloses his destination in a 2:30 p.m. ceremony at his school televised by ESPNU.
Apropos of nothing, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney will have concluded his 1 p.m. press conference by then.
Which is simply to point out that Swinney would not be in position to address questions on Burch, should he pick Clemson, until his next media availability. The same happened two years ago when K.J. Henry announced late in the afternoon on an ESPN broadcast.
Still, it’s simply an interesting logistical dynamic – no more, no less -- that Swinney and staff will be on the field practicing when Burch goes public with his decision.
Back to Burch in a moment …
**** Class rankings aren’t final until after the Feb. 5 National Signing Day, and we expect there to be additions made next month that impact the numbers atop the leader board.
But roughly three-fourths of the nation's major prospects stand to sign today, if not more. So the picture starts taking definitive shape today.
Clemson leads the chase for the No. 1 class entering the day.
Adding Greene would give the Tigers a 40-point bump to 3,100 points in the Rivals.com team standings. It would also knock No. 2 LSU by the same amount, to 2,921.
Next comes No. 3 Alabama (2,870) and No. 4 Ohio State (2,834), while No. 7 Georgia (2,220) could be primed for a big move because at 16 commitments, it can bring on four more players that just add to the total and not displace anyone. A team’s 20 highest-ranked signees count toward the rankings.
For what it’s worth, Burch would add 134 points to Clemson’s total.
LSU’s board is too fluid to justify going through all the hypotheticals.
Four-star defensive end commitment Demon Clowney has reportedly been encouraged to sign elsewhere. Two commits won’t sign until February, including potential five-star flip candidate Rakim Jarrett, and LSU is trying to stave off UGA for four-star receiver commitment Jermaine Burton. They are expected to land four-star lineman Marcus Dumervil, are battling Alabama for four-star end/linebacker Phillip Webb and are one of the finalists retaining confidence in netting Burch. And a spot remains reserved for five-star running back Zach Evans whenever those sweepstakes come to a close.
Clemson also holds the nation’s highest per-prospect average star rating (4.09), just ahead of UGA (4.06).
**** As for Burch, speculation remains scattered across his five finalists – although we’ve suggested for awhile that Alabama wasn’t credibly in the picture.
The other finalists, of course, are South Carolina, UGA and LSU.
The strongest smoke we’ve picked up around the Hammond School campfire suggests South Carolina, while UGA has the case for momentum and holds the last piece of visible evidence in the form of Kirby Smart stealing his final official visit. And hey, we’ve said from the outset that Burch likes LSU.
We have steadily maintained the necessity of tracking Burch’s recruitment for stated reasons, and we would tell you our conviction in doing so has only been reinforced over the last 24 hours, too.
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By: Paul Strelow
The early signing period has arrived, and Clemson's signings will fill in through the course of the morning.
The Tigers have 22 commitments expected to seal the deal with submitted signatures.
Then as you know, there’s Highland Springs (Va.) four-star defensive back Malcolm Greene – the LSU commitment TigerIllustrated.com has projected to flip to Clemson.
Columbia (S.C.) Hammond School five-star defensive end Jordan Burch discloses his destination in a 2:30 p.m. ceremony at his school televised by ESPNU.
Apropos of nothing, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney will have concluded his 1 p.m. press conference by then.
Which is simply to point out that Swinney would not be in position to address questions on Burch, should he pick Clemson, until his next media availability. The same happened two years ago when K.J. Henry announced late in the afternoon on an ESPN broadcast.
Still, it’s simply an interesting logistical dynamic – no more, no less -- that Swinney and staff will be on the field practicing when Burch goes public with his decision.
Back to Burch in a moment …
**** Class rankings aren’t final until after the Feb. 5 National Signing Day, and we expect there to be additions made next month that impact the numbers atop the leader board.
But roughly three-fourths of the nation's major prospects stand to sign today, if not more. So the picture starts taking definitive shape today.
Clemson leads the chase for the No. 1 class entering the day.
Adding Greene would give the Tigers a 40-point bump to 3,100 points in the Rivals.com team standings. It would also knock No. 2 LSU by the same amount, to 2,921.
Next comes No. 3 Alabama (2,870) and No. 4 Ohio State (2,834), while No. 7 Georgia (2,220) could be primed for a big move because at 16 commitments, it can bring on four more players that just add to the total and not displace anyone. A team’s 20 highest-ranked signees count toward the rankings.
For what it’s worth, Burch would add 134 points to Clemson’s total.
LSU’s board is too fluid to justify going through all the hypotheticals.
Four-star defensive end commitment Demon Clowney has reportedly been encouraged to sign elsewhere. Two commits won’t sign until February, including potential five-star flip candidate Rakim Jarrett, and LSU is trying to stave off UGA for four-star receiver commitment Jermaine Burton. They are expected to land four-star lineman Marcus Dumervil, are battling Alabama for four-star end/linebacker Phillip Webb and are one of the finalists retaining confidence in netting Burch. And a spot remains reserved for five-star running back Zach Evans whenever those sweepstakes come to a close.
Clemson also holds the nation’s highest per-prospect average star rating (4.09), just ahead of UGA (4.06).
**** As for Burch, speculation remains scattered across his five finalists – although we’ve suggested for awhile that Alabama wasn’t credibly in the picture.
The other finalists, of course, are South Carolina, UGA and LSU.
The strongest smoke we’ve picked up around the Hammond School campfire suggests South Carolina, while UGA has the case for momentum and holds the last piece of visible evidence in the form of Kirby Smart stealing his final official visit. And hey, we’ve said from the outset that Burch likes LSU.
We have steadily maintained the necessity of tracking Burch’s recruitment for stated reasons, and we would tell you our conviction in doing so has only been reinforced over the last 24 hours, too.
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