Player development outweighing recruiting

[Nexus]

CLEMSON -- Rooting on the Red Sox and perfecting lobster rolls are religions in New England. College football is an afterthought. In Winston-Salem, N.C., basketball trumps football.

 

Despite Boston College's location in a pro-sports hotbed and its lack of top-ranked recruiting classes, the Eagles have managed to win as many ACC division titles as Miami, Florida State and Clemson combined. Fellow private school Wake Forest has won an ACC title in the last decade. Clemson, Virginia and North Carolina have not.

 

How have football resource- deprived Wake Forest and Boston College succeeded?

 

How have they produced first-round NFL picks like Matt Ryan, Aaron Curry and B.J. Raji?

 

According to Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, it is in large part due to player development, an aspect lost amid the year-round recruiting cycle.

 

"That's where teams have an opportunity to compete if you aren't typically getting the talent some of your opponents have," Grobe said of player development. "Our niche is to be patient with kids. Count on their best football being their junior and senior years."

 

While there are different approaches, Grobe's strategy is to redshirt nearly every player and count on experience. It is a road map he says is shared by today's non-BCS conference powers.

 

"If you look across the country at schools that may not have the recruiting advantages some people have but are being successful, you are probably looking at their rosters and seeing a good number of juniors and seniors in stating positions," Grobe said. "At Wake Forest, we typically get really good football players, but they might need some development. They might be a little undersized or whatever, and they need a couple years to develop."

 

Boise State and TCU have turned two-star recruits into foundations for top-10 rankings in the Associated Press poll. Of their combined 44 starters, 39 are either juniors or seniors.

 

Grobe said Wake Forest has struggled this year because of its lack of upperclassmen in the lineup. Both Wake Forest (Riley Skinner) and Boston College (Matt Ryan) have also lost quality veteran quarterbacks in recent seasons. The Eagles, winless this year in ACC play (0-4), will start a freshman quarterback, Chase Rettig, against Clemson on Saturday.

 

Player development success varies at major programs, too.

 

Virginia Tech has two fewer top-25 rated classes than Clemson since 2002, according to Rivals.com, but three more ACC titles. The Hokies lead the ACC in winning percentage (.747) during that period.

 

Clemson's six top 25 recruiting classes rank third in the ACC since 2002, but Clemson's winning percentage (.614) is sixth.

 

Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has coached about everywhere -- in the NFL, under Nick Saban at Alabama and Bobby Bowden at Florida State. Steele said the best player development system he observed was at Nebraska, where he coached linebackers under Tom Osborne.

 

"When I was at Nebraska, we never had top recruiting classes, we never did," Steele said. "But we had a system, and coach Osborne just had a way of developing players. They lead the nation in non-scholarship players becoming first-round draft picks."

 

Steele said part of Nebraska's success was the number of players it brought to camp. SEC programs like Alabama have come under criticism for over-signing and then using different practices to trim rosters down to 85 scholarships.

 

At Nebraska, Steele said he needed an auditorium to conduct linebacker meetings.

 

"At the time I was there, we had 187 players," Steele said. "I had 19 linebackers. You have two pass skeletons going on at the same time, two inside run (drills) going on at the same time. Everything is done in twos, so you are getting reps all the time. By the time a guy becomes a starter, he has done it 50,000 times."

 

The Clemson staff has stated the desire for more "competitive depth," and might be beginning to build some as Jonathan Meeks overtook freshman All-American Rashard Hall in the starting lineup last week.

 

Malliciah Goodman is pushing for more time at defensive end, and young receivers have forced their way into the lineup.

 

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has talked repeatedly about changing the program's culture. Part of changing culture is player development.

 

 

Swinney has tried to create more competitive practices with more starter-versus-starter situations. He believes he's created a tougher Clemson team.

 

Clemson defensive end Da'Quan Bowers, whose sack total has increased from three last season to 10 this year, says players are more accountable in practice.

 

Swinney has also adopted some of Wake Forest's philosophy of redshirting players. Clemson only played three true freshmen last season (Meeks, Goodman and Corico Hawkins). Clemson has played four true freshmen this season (DeAndre Hopkins, Darius Robinson, Martin Jenkins and Justin Parker).

 

While Clemson has had a middling player development record during the Tommy Bowden Era, Swinney notes he's only been on the job for two full years. He has also delivered Clemson's only Atlantic Division title.

 

"For me, I can only answer from my perspective, and that is we have been in this job for one full season and a half," Swinney said. "I think we are on schedule. We have made progress. We are starting to develop things the way we need to. I signed 11 (in 2009), and one class last year and redshirted the majority of those guys. I like what we are doing and where we are headed."

 

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