In 2018, the Clemson Tigers defense ranked #1 in total defense in the country. The defense was led by a defensive line that basically graduated 5 players, including the first off the bench Albert Huggins. All five are playing in the NFL and was the talk of college football. Remember, "they call came back to get a National Championship"? That's exactly what they did, culminating in an overwhelming win against Alabama.
Fast forward to 2019. Many media "expert analysts" predicted Clemson's defense would take a step back and certainly will give up more points. Boy were they wrong. Clemson's defensive line is pretty much a no-name line with no elite players to speak of. That certainly won't be the case next year. How has Clemson excelled this year on defense? The answer is the back seven were excellent, led by Isaiah Simmons. So, why am I bringing this up? It all comes down to recruiting. This staff develops players, plain and simple. Clemson's program has put together 9 straight 10+ win seasons in a row, mostly with developing 3-4 star talent into 4-5 star production. There have been recent signings of 5-stars that have come in and played to their potential. There are too many to name of the development of players but the point is this. This particular class has some outstanding talent coming in and it will be very interesting to watch how this staff can develop 4-5 star talent. Check out this list and then sit back and watch.
LB - Kevin Swint 4* 6-2 243 #13 ranked ILB
LB - Sergio Allen 4* 6-1 217 #9 ranked ILB
LB - Trenton Simpson 5* 6-3 225 #3 ranked OLB
DB - Fred Davis II 4* 6-0 186 #3 ranked CB
DB - Malcolm Greene 4* 5-10 180 29th ranked S, 6th in Virginia
S - RJ Mickens 4* 6-0 197 #7 ranked S
S - Tyler Venables 3* 5-10 190 #75 ranked S
One note of interest, Tyler Venables is ranked as the 75th safety, but there is circumstances. Venables played both ways, starting at quarterback, and then switching over playing safety.
