FSU football: Can Noles maintain No. 1 recruiting class in ACC?
By Kelvin Hunt
Clemson is the biggest hurdle to FSU football maintaining the No. 1 spot in the ACC Conference rankings.
They are on an incredible run of signing blue-chip talent. Here’s what the ratio has been over the past three recruiting cycles:
- 2019-44.8 percent
- 2020-73.9 percent
- 2021-73.9 percent
Not only is it the overall blue-chip ratio, but also the number of blue-chip players who are five-stars. Clemson signed seven five-stars over that same period.
The Noles haven’t signed a composite five-star since 2017, when they signed four five-stars in the 2017 recruiting class.
Clemson has four commitments in its 2022 recruiting class, and all of them are four-star recruits. Clemson is favored for the two lone five-star high school players in the Carolina’s and other blue-chip players.
It’ll be tough to hold them off for the No. 1 spot. However, it’s not like they passed FSU football overnight. It was a gradual process of FSU shooting themselves in the foot and Clemson taking advantage.
The difference between the two is FSU doesn’t have to depend on Clemson shooting themselves in the foot. If Clemson did begin to falloff somehow, that would expedite the process, but the Noles can overtake Clemson when FSU is all-in.
The latter seems to be the case as of late.