National Signing Day was this past Wednesday, February 5th and a few ACC teams scored some big-time recruits.
After winning the 2014 BCS National Championship, the Florida State Seminoles with Heisman-winning quarterback, Jameis Winston, are well on their way to becoming the new Alabama in college football. With multiple ESPN Top 300 recruits, the Seminoles are going to keep the momentum going next year.
Florida State landed No. 2-ranked wide receiver Ermon Lane and No. 3-ranked running back Dalvin Cook. Early Virginia Tech commit, Ja’Von Harrison surprised everyone with a flip to Florida State, leaving the Noles with the 2014 No. 3 best recruiting class the nation.
“We’ve had large numbers this year, got needs all the way across the board and filled it with great players and everyone position across the board we had somebody in,” said Seminole head coach Jimbo Fisher. “We were excited about that.”
While that sounds all great and dandy, don’t place your bets just yet because the Clemson University Tigers ended up with a smaller, yet powerful set of recruits. After a tremendous Orange Bowl win, Clemson has their sights set on another winning season with hopes of holding a Waterford Crystal football very soon. They might just do that since the No. 1 quarterback in the nation, Deshaun Watson, signed with the Tigers and is already vying for that 1st-string quarterback position next fall.
After losing breakout wide receiver, Sammy Watson, to the NFL, the Tigers were looking to gain a top receiver or two and exceeded expectations by signing not one, but four 4-star receivers; Demarre Kitt, Kyrin Priester, Artavis Scott, and Trevion Thompson.
Finally, top outside linebacker, Richard Yeargin III was a big signee for the Tigers. Yeargin received offers from Clemson, Auburn, and Florida State among others and had remained relatively quiet about his final decision. Yeargin donned an orange hat and purple tie at his school’s ceremony and finalized his commitment to Clemson on Wednesday.
Many of Clemson’s top recruits have already enrolled and begun spring practices in hopes of taking the Tigers to the next level.
So who will come out on top next year? Only time will tell, but with both teams raking in several ESPN Top 300 athletes, the battle will be close and it will be hard-fought. Either way, both teams have proved to be top ACC teams and tough competitors for their SEC match-ups.
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Throwback Thursday
On Signing Day 1981, defensive lineman William Perry signed with the Clemson Tigers. That year, Perry aided the Tigers in winning the 1981 National Championship. Perry was known to his teammates as “The Refrigerator” due to his large size. In the 1985 NFL draft, head coach of the Chicago Bears, Mike Ditka, hand-selected Perry in the first round. His nickname continued throughout his professional career and in 1986 the Bears won Super Bowl XX with a great deal of help from Perry (his Super Bowl ring size was 25!).
