ohiotiger33
Watkins was always an out of state guy. Easy to get a guy when you just had Jacoby Ford and CJ Spiller, both solid NFL draft picks. People who knock Clemson for recruiting really need to take a visit there. It is unbelievably nice. Of course I am biased, but there is a reason I chose it over Florida, Texas, any Ohio schools.
The other X factor in recruiting is Dabo himself. The guy is awesome. He is just a very nice, genuine guy and I think many of the players' parents like the family atmosphere at Clemson. We used to camp out for football tickets, and I remember in 2009 Dabo came to every tent to spend 5 mins or so to chat about everything and to thank us; all while giving students some pizza. He must have spent 2+ hours out there. Not many coaches go the extra mile like that. He is also very charitable in town and is a very religious man, which is a card I think we play a lot.
Another thing; in a small town (Clemson pop w/o students=12,0000) it is much more difficult to get in trouble with the law because there are not as many shady areas to go to. Plus there are no hardcore city cops. We get a lot of players that grew up among gang violence and wanted to go somewhere to get away from the big city so they could feel safer.
The facilities at Clemson are top notch and on par with any school in the nation now that we have built an indoor practice facility (except for maybe Oregon's facilities, HOLY SHIT THOSE ARE NICE). For a school with only 14K undergrads, we do a good job packing our 85K seat stadium. There is no major metropolitan area within an hour of Clemson, so the fans travelling to the games are passionate, loud, and mostly alums. That is why it gets so loud and the passion is so high.
What I am saying, is that when James Davis and CJ Spiller committed to Clemson, it opened a lot of players' eyes about Clemson and put us back on the map so to speak. We have a couple of recruiters that have great relationships in Florida, and they have opened a pipeline. Spiller, Ford, and now Watkins and Bellamy. Thank god we seem to have a clue on offense now, and you have a good recipe!
I've listened to Dabo being interviewed on the field the past couple weeks. Is it just me or does he have the mic skills of a WCW wrestler back in the late 80s/early 90s? WOOOOOOO!!
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