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Wake Forest Football Recruiting

Looks like Clawson goes after recruits that he determines that can play and he doesn't GAF who else offers them as he is confident in his own (including his staff)assessments. Sometimes an early commit blows up and everyone, even the super-elite, starts offering (like the QB who just decommitted), but almost always, as soon as WF offers, other Power V schools start trying to get involved. Better to rely on our evals and be the first to offer than the other way around.

For those that follow recruiting, the quality of Clawson's recruiting is far superior to Grobe's over his final 4 years, when few of WF's recruits were getting other offers even after WF went public with its involvement. Not saying that WF is recruiting on a Clemson-level (not even close right now), but WF is offering recruits that it knows will develop and can play; then other schools follow. This method is never going to lead to maximum recruiting rankings which are almost entirely dependent on a recruit's offer list, but feel like WF is recruiting on its highest level ever.
 
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While I agree clawson and staff is great at finding talent with little interest, you cannot build a roster with recruits with no P5 interest. Each of the last three or four years we have taken more commits with little to no p5 offers. Many will be quick to point out dortch (who actually did have other p5 offers) and bates (who also had other p5 offers). There are many examples of recruits panning out and contributing that didn’t have much p5 interest. I would say more likely than not a guy with offers from many other p5 schools will be better than ones without. There are obviously some that have worked out as noted above, but eventually if the bulk of your roster is made of players without P5 offers, you will have to play them and they will have to contribute.

I think the coaching staff is doing the best they can to find talent, but it may take another few years of consistency till we can pull in recruits that are sought by others.
 
Richardwfu said:
While I agree clawson and staff is great at finding talent with little interest, you cannot build a roster with recruits with no P5 interest. Each of the last three or four years we have taken more commits with little to no p5 offers. Many will be quick to point out dortch (who actually did have other p5 offers) and bates (who also had other p5 offers). There are many examples of recruits panning out and contributing that didn’t have much p5 interest. I would say more likely than not a guy with offers from many other p5 schools will be better than ones without. There are obviously some that have worked out as noted above, but eventually if the bulk of your roster is made of players without P5 offers, you will have to play them and they will have to contribute.

I think the coaching staff is doing the best they can to find talent, but it may take another few years of consistency till we can pull in recruits that are sought by others.
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Good post, I agree
 
I do agree that we jump too quickly on "diamonds in the rough". Some of them end up blowing up and getting big time offers, but the majority of them do not. And those kids that do not blow up would likely still commit to Wake much later in the process, if needed to fill out the class.

Are we even legitmitely in the running for any 4 star kids this year (now that Clark is gone)? Doesn't seem like it.
 
Last year we had 22 signees. 7 came early, 2 aren't here yet (Gordon, Manning). We have 12 seniors (8 5th year, 4 4th year). That's how Wake will build its championships. Having more mistake free play from your upperclassmen is the key to our success. If you go through the tops of our recent recruiting classes in recent years, many have not contributed like we hoped. I understand the frustration. The 'holes are down, Duke has plateaued, and state is ascending. This is our chance. Losing 3 All-ACC 5th year OLs, after this season, will hurt more than you know.
 
tigerswood said:
I do agree that we jump too quickly on "diamonds in the rough". Some of them end up blowing up and getting big time offers, but the majority of them do not. And those kids that do not blow up would likely still commit to Wake much later in the process, if needed to fill out the class.

Are we even legitmitely in the running for any 4 star kids this year (now that Clark is gone)? Doesn't seem like it.
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True, but if we have any chance with the ones who "blow up" we have to take the chance early. We aren't going to get many highly sought after recruits right now. I think that can change over time but it will be incremental and based on Clawson continuing to build our program. For now it seems to make sense to take some chances. Maybe you get lucky or otherwise end up with players we would have signed late anyway to fill spots. What we have in our favor is it seems like Clawson is above average at offering under the radar guys who do end up contributing. Don't know what other method would work any better for us right now.
 
Don't forget also that Duke often gets 4-star recruits to commit, and then see them decommit later in the process. So again this isn't unique to us, but we also need to try to overcome it. I trust Clawson to do this; anyone higher up supporting the program not so much.
 
Turd Ferguson said:
True, but if we have any chance with the ones who "blow up" we have to take the chance early. We aren't going to get many highly sought after recruits right now. I think that can change over time but it will be incremental and based on Clawson continuing to build our program. For now it seems to make sense to take some chances. Maybe you get lucky or otherwise end up with players we would have signed late anyway to fill spots. What we have in our favor is it seems like Clawson is above average at offering under the radar guys who do end up contributing. Don't know what other method would work any better for us right now.
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Exactly. Very well said. We have no reason to doubt Clawson's recruiting. Our best year so far is the season in which the team was almost all his recruits. We anticipate being even better this year. He's recruited well to a rebuilding program. I think he'll continue to do well as we win more games on the field.
 
The depth, strength, and expected competition of our QB pipeline doesn't seem quite as good as it did two weeks ago. Hopefully, someone worthy and ready to lead rises to the top.
 
Turd Ferguson said:
True, but if we have any chance with the ones who "blow up" we have to take the chance early. We aren't going to get many highly sought after recruits right now. I think that can change over time but it will be incremental and based on Clawson continuing to build our program. For now it seems to make sense to take some chances. Maybe you get lucky or otherwise end up with players we would have signed late anyway to fill spots. What we have in our favor is it seems like Clawson is above average at offering under the radar guys who do end up contributing. Don't know what other method would work any better for us right now.
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Kevin Johnson was a nobody who came to our camp. We offered, he committed. He had a great senior year in HS and attracted some offers. He signed and made himself into a 1st round NFL draft pick. This is the exception to the rule. Dortch is next in line. But we have some really good OLs who worked their way into the strength of the team.
 
YankeeInAtlanta said:
The depth, strength, and expected competition of our QB pipeline doesn't seem quite as good as it did two weeks ago. Hopefully, someone worthy and ready to lead rises to the top.
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RB will be thin this year. Maybe that's why we are still going after more RBs for the 2019 class.
 
DEACS76 said:
Kevin Johnson was a nobody who came to our camp. We offered, he committed. He had a great senior year in HS and attracted some offers. He signed and made himself into a 1st round NFL draft pick. This is the exception to the rule. Dortch is next in line. But we have some really good OLs who worked their way into the strength of the team.
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He wasn't that much of a nobody to Wake, since he had been a HS teammate of Campanaro.
 
Not that thin considering we moved Byrd to DB. Colburn, Carney, Beal, and remember Bell. We'll need two for 2019 though. Obviously holding on to Flowers is key.
 
PhDeac said:
Not that thin considering we moved Byrd to DB. Colburn, Carney, Beal, and remember Bell. We'll need two for 2019 though. Obviously holding on to Flowers is key.
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We also have that freshman that we flipped from App close to signing day. Kid looks like an absolute unit.
 
Yeah. Hope he'll be able to redshirt.
 
PhDeac said:
Yeah. Hope he'll be able to redshirt.
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Bet he'll redshirt and then play some the last 3 games of the season for some experience.
Take advantage of the new redshirt rules.
 
I’m curious to see what the new rule does for the gimme games. Will teams play true frosh extensively?

I’m sure that’s what the late season SEC gimme games will be.
 
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