We signed Clowney in 2011

[Judson1]

Starting with the 2012 class until current. There have been 132 Rivals 5-Star recruits. 58 of those have signed with SEC schools. And 4 with clem$on.
Alabama: 17
Auburn: 5
Florida: 8
Georgia: 5
LSU: 8
Mississippi: 3
Miss. State: 1
Mizzou: 1
Tennessee: 5
Texas A&M: 5

You can argue all you want that stars do or do not matter. But you won't convince me that 5 stars are not the best players on average in any given year. All schools that win at the highest level have rosters with these guys. Now you can blame a coach if you want. Or whomever you want. You can argue that we don't need any of these 58 guys on our team to win. But I'm just showing what were up against. Year in and year out the teams we are competing against are getting some of the best players out there. The last 2 five star guys we signed are record holders here. After 33-6 is it too much to expect at least one out of state 5-star guy to sign with us? I know Blacksheir was one of these types and I'm excited to have him. But it's been 8 years since we signed an OOS 5-star. Why do we not have the draw of some of our competitors? What is lacking? Is it even possible to change it? We have been one of the most successful programs out there in the last 5 or so years. We have some of the newest, most exciting renovations in the conference. What will it take to take it to the next level? I'm not blaming the coach because the ones before him didn't even do as well as were doing now. We have good talent that SOS can have some good teams here. Were a solid team. But we miss not having one or two of these national top 50 type players to help us. A Lattimore type who can run even when people know its coming. A Clowney that requires extra attention. An Alshon who you can throw it anywhere near him and he gets it. That makes SOS job easier. I want to be able to go into other states and get them. North Carolina, Georgia, Florida. Go into those places and pluck one every now and then. I hope one day we can but in the meantime we are trying to beat teams that already do it. To some it's easier, to some their own states have them every year. But ours does not. And if we are to get back to anything similar to a 33-6 run we need them!

 

[Rollerdude123]

We need a few without a doubt.

We need one at the WR position- we need a stud playmaker on offense to go along with Pharoh Cooper - who is a playmaker in his own right with elite speed.

It's amazing to me that a guy like Steve Spurrier can't land a few guys like there here and there.

What we don't have outside of possibly Cooper is a guy that the other team fears. Cooper is close to that - but even he doesn't have elite speed. But defenses do have to watch out for him.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

It is important to get good players. Nobody with any reasonable intelligence would argue that, and whether you put a lot of faith in the "star ranking system" or not... Most the 5* guys do turn out to be great players... MOST OF THEM DO.

the issue we run into is we do not have a NATIONAL BRAND. SPURRIER DOES, and by extension we have been able to recruit better than we ever have in the 100+ year history of our program BECAUSE OF SPURRIER, but until we show players that real meaningful championships can be won here at SC, until we take the next step, the GAMECOCKS won't build the kind of Brand that UT, Bama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Florida... Have had for DECADES.

We just cannot compete with that on the recruiting trail. We have to get the best talent we can, make the best of it, get back to Atlanta, build our BRAND... We have made headway and have a chance to continue to build on it if we can turn things around again... But it is a progressive thing we have to overcome with more and more success. A couple years of double digit wins is a great start. ONE trip to Atlanta... A good start. I think spurrier would say there is a lot of work left to do, but this class we are pulling in has put us in position to bounce back hard and fast. Next year should be an improvement, I see and hear a lot of people saying this- 2016 is the year we could really bring it all home. If we get some major hardware in the coming years, we will get the attention of the kinds of out of state players you covet.

 

[wcocat]

This no brand excuse is nonsence. Kids don't care or know what happened ten minutes ago much less in the Distant 20th century . What they might recall is that We had three 11win seasons recently and recruited two of the mostly highly regarded players in the nation. We have had tons of positive national press during these runs. We were hot and a cool place to play until this fall. Alas, The opportunity to make some hay from our golden age was squandered by the coaching staff that managed to leave gaping position holes each class since Clowney was signed and misjudged or mis developed a lot of the ones they did sign. It is absolutely sickening but dabo out recruits us year end and year out because he understands the contemporary student athlete and knows exactly how to market Clemson to him. We do not. That's the problem not the ancient history that haunts the fan base.