Clemson 2012 Recruiting

Clemson Tigers 2012 ... Head Coach: Dabo Swinney

Clemson Tigers

2011 Record: 10-4

Sept. 3 Troy W 43-19
Sept. 10 Wofford W 35-27
Sept. 17 Auburn W 38-24
Sept. 24 Florida State W 344-30
Oct. 1 at Virginia Tech W 23-3
Oct. 8 Boston Coll. W 36-14
Oct. 15 at Maryland W 56-45
Oct. 22 North Carolina W 59-38
Oct. 29 at Georgia Tech L 31-17
Nov. 5 OPEN DATE
Nov. 12 Wake Forest W 31-28
Nov. 19 at NC State L 37-13
Nov. 26 at South Carolina L 34-13
ACC Championship
Dec. 3 Virginia Tech W 38-10
Orange Bowl
Jan. 4 West Virginia L 70-33

2010 CFN Prediction: 8-4
2010 Record: 6-7

Sept. 4 North Texas W 35-10
Sept. 11 Presbyterian W 68-10
Sept. 18 at Auburn L 27-24 OT
Sept. 25 OPEN DATE
Oct. 2 Miami L 30-21
Oct. 9 at North Carolina L 21-16
Oct. 16 Maryland W 31-7
Oct. 23 Georgia Tech W 27-13
Oct. 30 at Boston Coll L 16-10
Nov. 6 NC State W 14-13
Nov. 13 at Florida State W 16-13
Nov. 20 at Wake Forest W 30-10
Nov. 27 South Carolina L 29-7
Meineke Car Care
Dec. 31 USF L 31-26
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 The Entire 2012 Recruiting Class

Top 5 Clemson Recruits To Care About
Player writeups by Scout.com

1. S Travis Blanks
6-1, 194, Scout.com, 13th ranked, four-star safety. Blanks finished his junior season with 104 tackles and four interceptions. Offensively, he had 35 receptions for 356 yards and eight touchdowns. He also returned two punts for scores. He says he can bench 290-pounds, squat 335 and has a 33-inch vertical jump.

2. DT Carlos Watkins
6-4, 280, Scout.com 8th ranked, four-star defensive tackle.

3. WR Gemone Hopper
6-0, 166, Scout.com 20th ranked, four-star receiver.

4. S Ronald Geohaghan
6-1, 190, Scout.com 23rd ranked, four-star safety.

5. DE Martin Aiken
6-3, 250, Scout.com 24th ranked, four-star defensive end.

The 2012 Class Was Heavy On... Lowered expectations. Head coach Dabo Swinney appears to be putting together another terrific class, but it’s asking for way too much to come up with an instant game-changer like Sammy Watkins. Even so, this receiving corps is about to get even better with a few good four-star types to be ready to roll when Watkins bolts for the NFL as soon as humanly possible. The defensive line will get the most attention and should be the strongest part of the haul.

Team Concerns For 2012: Consistency. After the awful last part of the season – outside of the ACC championship – the team needs to bring the effort and production week in and week out. That might be hard early on with three starters gone off the defensive front and three new starters on the offensive line. There’s an interesting blend of terrific young talents and decent veterans, and it all needs to blend fast in what could be another title run.

Looking Ahead To The 2012 Season: How fast can the Tigers get over the atomic wedgie applied by West Virginia in the Orange Bowl? The offensive talent is undeniable with the pitch-catch combination of Tajh Boyd to Sammy Watkins one of the best in college football. However, the offensive line has to undergo an overhaul and tight end Dwayne Allen is about to become a millionaire at the next level. The defensive front has even more issues with tackle Brandon Thompson one of three starters gone, but almost everyone in the back seven returns. The recruiting has been stellar and the athleticism and skill is in place across the board to be in the hunt for the ACC title, but the league is going to be stronger as a whole.

The 2011 Class Was Heavy On … The passing game. After a few yeas of focusing mostly on the defense, the Tigers came up with something for the offense that struggled last year with three new quarterback prospects and several dangerous receivers with Sammy Watkins, a five-star talent with next-level upside, and Charone Peake and Martavis Bryant, two big, strong receivers who could be involved immediately. Eric MacLain is one of the nation’s top tight ends. Defensively, Corey Crawford isn’t Da’Quan Bowers, but he’s a pass rusher who might make some noise this year.

2010 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 21. That Class Was Heavy On ... Defensive backs. Dabo Swinney did a nice job loading up on defense, while also getting a few key pieces for the offense including receiver Martavis Bryant and tackle Reid Webster. Josh Watson and Corey Crawford should quickly become terrors for the defensive front, and Jake Nicolopulos Justin Parker will be key starters in the linebacking corps by 2012, but the strength is in the secondary where corners DeAndre Hopkins and Darius Robinson are speedy defenders with All-ACC potential. Bashaud Breeland is the key safety signing with excellent size and great range.

2009 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 45. That Class Was Heavy On ... ends. Even with Ricky Sapp and Da’Quan Bowers bringing quickness off the edge, Clemson had little luck getting to the quarterback in 2008. Malliciah Goodman and Spencer Shuey have been brought in to push the starters and kickstart a tired pass rush. Once he sharpens his fundamentals and adds a few more pounds, Goodman has the blazing speed and long arms to be a real nuisance to ACC quarterbacks.

Orange Bowl
West Virginia 70 … Clemson 33

West Virginia: Total offense: WVU 589 – Clemson 443 … Geno Smith completed 31-of-43 passes for 401 yards and six scores. … Shawn Alson ran 20 times for 77 yards and two scores. … Tavon Austin caught 11 passes for 117 yards and four scores. … Eain Smith made 12 tackles.

Clemson: Average yards per rush: Clemson 7.1 – WVU 4.3 … Tajh Boyd completed 24-of-46 passes for 250 yards and two scores and two picks. … Andre Ellington ran ten times for 116 yards and a score. … DeAndre Hopkins caught ten passes for 107 yards and a score. … Sammy Watkins caught five passes for 66 yards and a score. … Rashard Hall made eight tackles with a pick.

MIAMI (AP) -- The West Virginia Mountaineers were tough to slow down, and only the Orange Bowl mascot could stop Darwin Cook.

Geno Smith tied the record for any bowl game with six touchdown passes, and the No. 23-ranked Mountaineers set a bowl scoring record Wednesday night with their high-powered offense. But safety Cook made the pivotal play by returning a fumble 99 yards for a touchdown to break the game open and help rout No. 14 Clemson 70-33.

Cook collided comically with mascot Obie after scoring one of the Mountaineers' five TDs in the second quarter, including three in the final 2:29 for a 49-20 lead. It was the highest-scoring half by a team in a bowl game.

"I always envisioned making great plays," Cook said. "If you think it will happen, it will happen."

Tavon Austin tied a record for any bowl game with four touchdown catches. Smith went 31 for 42, and had 401 yards passing to break Tom Brady's Orange Bowl record. Smith also ran for a score, helping West Virginia break the bowl record for points established six nights earlier when Baylor beat Washington 67-56 in the Alamo Bowl.

"Never could we imagine we'd put up 70 points," Smith said.

The Mountaineers (10-3) won in their first Orange Bowl appearance and improved to 3-0 in Bowl Championship Series games.

"The guys wanted to come in and make a statement, and the only way you can do that is if you play well on all three sides of the ball," coach Dana Holgorsen said.

Clemson (10-4) lost playing in its first major bowl in 30 years.

"We're a better team than we played tonight," coach Dabo Swinney said. "Just too many mistakes. But we'll be back."

The offensive showcase was the latest in a succession this bowl season, and perhaps the last. Defense is expected to dominate in the final BCS game Monday night when Louisiana State faces Alabama for the national title.

Tacklers had their hands full - or rather, they didn't - on a chilly night in Miami. Smith and Austin combined on scoring passes of 8, 27, 3 and 37 yards, and Shawne Alston scored on two short runs for West Virginia, which totaled 589 yards and 31 first downs. Smith was chosen the game's outstanding player.

Even when Clemson managed to corral the Mountaineers, the play wasn't always over. Andrew Buie rolled over a defender but was never downed, so he got up and ran for an additional 18 yards.

Clemson couldn't keep up with the Big East Conference co-champions, although Andre Ellington did score the game's first points on a 68-yard run. First-team All-Americans Sammy Watkins and Dwayne Allen combined for only seven catches for 87 yards.

"We kind of got down when they scored so many points in such a short amount of time," Watkins said.

Amid the flurry of points, it was a defender who came up with second-longest scoring play in Orange Bowl history.

Clemson was on the verge of taking the lead in the second quarter when Ellington ran up the middle and disappeared into a heap at the 1. A teammate signaled touchdown, but the ball came loose and Cook grabbed it, then took off with nothing but the end zone in front of him.

"I saw the ball come loose," he said. "I grabbed it. I didn't hear a whistle, so I ran."

After Cook crossed the goal line, he gleefully leaped on mascot Obie, a smiling orange, and they both tumbled to the turf. Obie rose unhurt and resumed her duties.

Cook and Obie met on the field after the game and shared a hug.

"I didn't know you were a girl," he told the mascot. "I apologize."

Smith, standing in the sideline, watched a video replay of Cook's touchdown in disbelief.

"Crazy, man," Smith said. "When I saw that, I knew things were breaking our way."

The potential 14-point swing seemed to deflect the Tigers, who had moved the ball almost at will to that point.

"It was a pretty big moment," Swinney said. "They hadn't really stopped us. That was huge. Then it snowballed quickly."

The Tigers were doomed when quarterback Tajh Boyd committed subsequent turnovers on consecutive Clemson plays.

After Smith ran 7 yards on a keeper for a 35-20 lead, Pat Miller intercepted Boyd's pass. Smith flipped a 1-yard touchdown pass to Austin and, on the next play, a call was overturned, with the replay official determining Boyd had lost a fumble.

Alston then ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 4 seconds left in the half.

"Momentum swung not in our favor, and it was hard to recapture," Boyd said. "West Virginia is a great offense. You can't really get behind them. We couldn't stop them. Guys were gassed. Their legs were going. It was a tough loss - pretty embarrassing."

Defensive woes were nothing new for the Tigers, who won their first Atlantic Coast Conference title in 20 years but gave up at least 30 points in six regular-season games.

Clemson kept pace for a while, leading 17-14 after one period. It was the highest-scoring first quarter and first half in Orange Bowl history.

West Virginia went ahead for the first time early in the second period on an 80-yard touchdown drive capped by Austin's 27-yard catch, making the score 21-17. Cook's takeaway touchdown came next, and the Mountaineers were off to the races.

"You don't score 70 points by being good on offense," Holgorsen said. "You score 70 points by being good on all three sides of the ball."

Dec. 3 Clemson 38 … Virginia Tech 10
CFN Analysis: You could sense this was coming. Clemson was better than it played over the last few weeks, but it didn’t have the intensity after the division was all wrapped up. … There’s the Tajh Boyd that’s been missing over the last few weeks. He completed 20-of-29 passes for 240 yards and three scores, and ran 11 times for 28 yards and a score. … It helps to have Sammy Watkins back as Sammy Watkins. No. 2 made five grabs for 80 yards and a score. … Andre Ellington was the best back on the field running hard for 125 yards and a score on 20 carries. … It’s off to the Orange Bowl for the first time in 30 years. The program has been due for a long, long time.

Nov. 26 at South Carolina 34 … Clemson 13  

Nov. 19 at NC State 37 … Clemson 13
CFN Analysis: Clemson played like a team that has the Atlantic all wrapped up. Sammy Watkins was out hurt and the team didn’t play with the same energy or pop on either side of the ball. NC State was desperate and played like it. … Tajh Boyd wasn’t exactly lost without Watkins, but he threw two picks and completed just 21-of-34 passes for 238 yards. With no help from the running game, and under pressure all game long, it was his toughest game of the year. … The O line had a nasty time with the aggressive Wofpack defensive front. Andre Ellington didn’t have any room to move. … The Tiger defensive line did a nice job of getting into the backfield, but it couldn’t stop any of the key plays. State did whatever it wanted. … As great as the year has been, now the national title is off the table and if the Tigers lose to South Carolina, things will take a sour turn before the ACC championship. 

Nov. 12 at Clemson 31 … Wake Forest 28
CFN Analysis: The Tigers are off to the ACC title game. It took a while for the offense to rev up, and it took a late rally, but they’re going to Charlotte with a young, young team that was supposed to need a year of seasoning. … The turnovers allowed the Demon Deacons to stay in the game, with Tajh Boyd getting picked off twice. But Boyd got on a roll, even with Sammy Watkins getting knocked out with an apparent shoulder injury, finishing with 343 yards and two scores. … The defense didn’t have its finest game, but it came up with the sack it had to have and it held late to lead the way to the game-winning drive. The Tigers didn’t take the ball away and it wasn’t great on third downs. … It’s time to shoot for a huge goal: 13 wins. This is a great season, but it could be special with wins over NC State and South Carolina on the road, an ACC title, and a BCS bowl win. 

Oct. 29 at Georgia Tech 31 … Clemson 17
CFN Analysis: This stinks and the national title hopes are gone, but the Tigers have to blow this off as quickly as possible and focus on a very, very big prize. Sometimes the Georgia Tech offense just works, and Clemson couldn’t seem to handle it and kept guessing wrong. The four turnovers were a big problem, but the offense cranked out yards in chunks with Tajh Boyd doing what he could to bring the team back. The loss isn’t that big a deal if the Tigers bounce back and beat Wake Forest. Blowing this game was bad, but losing to the Demon Deacons would be disastrous for Atlantic title hopes. 

Oct. 22 at Clemson 59 … North Carolina 38
CFN Analysis: Oregon and Georgia Tech – when the Yellow Jacket offense is humming – might be in the running, but there isn’t a more fun team in America than Clemson. North Carolina got the home run needed at the end of the first half to get back in the game, but the Tiger offense came back roaring with Tajh Boyd finishing with five scoring passes and a one-yard run to take back control. The defense, though, was the bigger star with six takeaways from a team that doesn’t give the ball over, led by Kourtnei Brown’s dream day with a 20-yard pick six and a 26-yard fumble return. Everything keeps on clicking for a team that’s looking just good enough to be in the mix for the national championship, but is just shaky enough to still be just on the outside. The D might have come up with big plays, but it also gave them up, too, along with a special teams gaffe allowing kickoff return for a score just when it seemed like the game was about to be blown open. And then thanks to Boyd and Sammy Watkins, it was.  

Oct. 15 Clemson 56 … at Maryland 45
CFN Analysis: It was almost like Clemson needed more of a challenge to make it interesting. This was Clemson being at its flaky best, but unlike past years, it came out with the win after a breathtaking offensive explosion. Good luck finding a more entertaining combination than Tajh Boyd to Sammy Watkins, but Andre Ellington was the unsung star of the show with 212 yards and two scores on 24 carries while putting the game away with his late scoring dash. The defense was a disaster after stuffing Virginia Tech and shutting down Boston College. The linebackers were out of position way too often and the line didn’t do enough against the run, but the offense, and a kickoff return by Watkins for a score – and his record-setting performance for all-purpose yards - saved the day. There might have been problems, but the Tigers are 7-0 going into a home game against North Carolina.

Oct. 8 at Clemson 36 … Boston College 14
CFN Analysis: Clemson might have beaten Boston College without a problem, but now there’s a concern over QB Tajh Boyd after he took a shot and suffered a hip injury. Terrific, he completed 16-of-26 passes for 283 yards with a touchdown before getting knocked out, and while Cole Stoudt wasn’t bad, the freshman didn’t push the ball down the field and didn’t take any chances. Sammy Watkins continued to show he’s one of the most exciting new players in college football with seven grabs for 153 yards, while Andre Ellington kept the ground game moving with 22 carries for 117 yards. The Tigers are starting to win easily, and now they have to get fight complacency with Maryland up next. Boyd’s injury should be a cure for that.  

Oct. 1 Clemson 23 … at Virginia Tech 3
CFN Analysis: After beating Auburn and Florida State with a flashy offense, Clemson showed it could get gritty, too. David Wilson got his yards, running for 123, but the Tigers shut down the rest of the Virginia Tech attack with little coming from the Hokie passing game and with good stops when needed to get off the field. The offense had some problems with Tajh Boyd completing just 13-of-32 passes, but he got the midrange plays going with Sammy Watkins, Jason Brown, and Dwayne Allen all coming up with big plays. Andre Branch was terrific, making 11 tackles, two sacks, and four tackles for loss keying a huge day from the D, and if the Tigers get the same sort of effort over the next two weeks against Boston College and Maryland, they’ll be 7-0 going into the North Carolina showdown.
 
Sept. 24 at Clemson 35 … Florida State 30
CFN Analysis: Blowing up against Auburn is one thing, but Florida State’s defense it truly something special and Clemson was able to roll. Tajh Boyd was beaten up and a bit battered, but he threw for 344 yards and three touchdowns helped by Sammy Watkins, the new star who come up with another huge performance catching eight passes for 141 yards and two scores. But there are holes. The Tigers had way too many problems putting the game away, hurt by a poor call on a late fourth down attempt and a secondary that had problems against the Seminole receivers, but no matter how it happened, beating Auburn and Florida State in back to back weeks is fantastic. What’s better? Beating Virginia Tech in Blacksburg next week. 

Sept. 17 at Clemson 38 … Auburn 24
CFN Analysis: This was the coming of age game for Clemson. The young Tigers were terrific with the freshmen showing off their speed and athleticism, led by Sammy Watkins who caught ten passes for 155 yards and two scores, while running for 44 yards on seven carries. But it was the play of Tajh Boyd that showed just how good Clemson could be, completing 30-of-42 passes for 386 yards and four touchdowns making all the right decisions and being in total command of the attack. How good was the Clemson offense? It converted 14-of-18 third down chances and finished with 624 yards of offense. This was big, the next two weeks against Florida State and Virginia Tech will be even bigger. 

Sept. 10 at Clemson 35 … Wofford 27
CFN Analysis: Tajh Boyd and the passing game worked, with the Tiger QB completing 18-of-29 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for a score, and Andre Ellington was terrific with 165 yards on the ground with a touchdown. The defense, though, had major problems with the Wofford option attack allowing 272 yards, and it failed to do enough to get off the field. The Tigers only held on to the ball for 26:33, but that was because Wofford slowed the game down to try to shorten the game. The offense was fine, though, and now it’ll have to gear it up for a shootout with the showdown against Auburn coming up. To win, the pass rush has to be far stronger. 

Sept. 3 at Clemson 43 … Troy 19
CFN Analysis: Troy is a good team that might end up winning the Sun Belt, and Clemson blew through the game like it was playing a true cupcake. The passing game was solid with Tajh Boyd coming up with the performance everyone hoped for, completing 20-of-30 passes for 264 yards and three scores, and Andre Ellington provided the balance needed with a grinding game. The D might have given up yards, but the three takeaways helped make it a blowout, and the offense took over in the second half. The secondary struggled a bit, but the stats will look far better next week after facing Wofford in a tune up game before the home dates against Auburn and Florida State. To beat those teams, the pass protection has to be a bit stronger.