Clemson is losing the winningest class in ACC history. These Tigers will replace them
Clemson is losing perhaps the best senior class in school history in 2018 as Christian Wilkins, Hunter Renfrow and several others will graduate and move on after being the winningest class in ACC history.
Tigers coach Dabo Swinney feels that Clemson met all of its “critical needs” to replace Wilkins, Renfrow and others with the class it signed on Wednesday.
Clemson signed 26 recruits during the first day of the early signing period, headlined by five-star cornerback Andrew Booth and five-star receiver Frank Ladson. The class includes two five-star recruits and 10 four-star recruits, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. It is currently ranked No. 6 in the country.
“I think this group will turn out to be special. I can’t wait to see what they do over the next four or five years,” Swinney said Wednesday. “Obviously we’ve got some very talented individuals that are leaving and it’s critical that we bring in a great group to replace them. I think that we’ve done that.”
This class is different from Clemson’s recent ones in that the Tigers signed 26 players on Wednesday, the most the Tigers have signed since 2011.
Swinney also indicated that Clemson is not done with this class. The Tigers could sign more players during the early signing period, which ends Friday, and others in February. Clemson is set to have 16 players enroll in January, including quarterback Taisun Phommachanh.
“We’re not done with this class from a totality standpoint, but we’ll see how it all finishes up. But to this point an unbelievable group,” Swinney said. “We’ve got a really talented team coming back that’s going to be a lot of fun to coach so the 16 midyears is huge for us because we have all these guys who are obviously moving on. .... To be able to have 16 new guys out there that are getting a head start I think that really is going to play huge dividends and continue to allow us to have the competitive depth that we need.”
Swinney said that putting together a class of 26 players was a challenge after signing only 17 players last year, but he could not be more pleased with the way it is shaping up thus far.
“Brad Scott had his work cut out for him this year because he handles all the transition stuff and then you throw in the fact that 16 of them are coming in in January, and oh by the way we might not even be here,” Swinney said. “It was a lot of fun and definitely a challenge to put it all together but when you’re focused and you’re organized and you’re detailed it comes together nice.”