Clemson’s Defensive Line lands at #9
247Sports Undervalues Tigers’ Defensive Front
It goes without saying that the Clemson football program has been panned by national critics in each of the past two seasons.
Most of the criticism fell on the shoulders of the offense, namely former offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter and current Oregon State quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei. Even during two down seasons, Clemson was still seen as having an above-average to elite defense.
Despite entering the 2023 season with one of the most talented defensive fronts in the game, that did not stop 247Sports from throwing shade at the Tigers’ unit as part of their list of best defensive lines in college football.
247 lists Clemson’s defensive line as the ninth-best in the country out of their top 10. That would be fair enough for the blind guess of a casual fan, but to see who a respected national analytics site has ranked ahead of the Tigers is, frankly, absurd.
Just in front of Clemson is LSU at number eight. Coming in at numbers seven and five respectively are Penn State and, wait for it, Illinois.
Illinois?
Clemson has endured its fair share of consternation from the national media over the past 24 months, but that is a bad take by anyone’s measurables. What is worse is that in their own breakdown of the Tigers’ unit, 247Sports’ Brad Crawford contradicts his own site’s ranking.
Crawford opined:
“In terms of quality depth, Clemson has it in the trenches this season,” he said. “The Tigers welcome back Tyler Davis, a first-team All-ACC defensive lineman, expect heavy production from the five-star freshman Peter Woods and now have a healthy Xavier Thomas back in the fold. This is the second highest rated pass rush in the ACC behind Florida State in these rankings, but could be number one if Thomas and Woods provide notable production.”
Brad Crawford
That’s right. Florida State, the same team Clemson has defeated in seven consecutive seasons, is ranked number three, and five spots ahead of the Tigers. But let’s not ignore the hypocrisy here.
Crawford and 247 rank Clemson low on their top 10 list, while at the same time lauding the Tigers’ talent and Clemson’s depth along the front line. He talks about the return of Tyler Davis, one of the best defensive linemen in the country, as well as a healthy Xavier Thomas. Yet, these rankings fail to give the appropriate credit attached to their names. That is to say nothing of the fact that Ruke Orhorhoro also forwent the NFL draft to return to Clemson. He also happens to be one of the more highly thought-of defensive linemen in the conference.
The two-sided analysis extends into Clemson’s freshman class as well, which 247 cites as one of the deepest and best in the country, while simultaneously refusing to credit their presence in the rankings. Per 247, four of Clemson’s five highest-rated freshmen are defensive linemen. Those include Vic Burley, Stephiylan Green, T.J. Parker, and Woods.
To give such glowing lip service to Clemson while also disregarding their own flattery is not a good look for 247Sports in this instance. Their math simply does not add up. The numbers don’t lie, however.
Eleven defensive linemen currently on the Tigers’ roster were rated as four stars or higher recruits going all the way back to Thomas in the 2018 recruiting class. Any equation you can create generates a more talented defensive line than half the teams on the list.
The rest of the top 10 are filled by Georgia at number one and Ohio State at two. Michigan is listed at number four, Alabama at six, and fellow ACC foe Miami checks in at number 10. You can live with Georgia taking the top spot here. Two consecutive national championships with elite defensive statistics are self-explanatory. Ohio State is a blueblood and gets the benefit of the doubt. Michigan has been solid, but anyone could argue it came against lesser competition across the majority of the BIG10.
But Illinois? Come on. Nobody who spends more than an hour per week evaluating college football will conclude that the Fighting Illini have a better front four than Clemson. The Tigers have talent and experience in spades. To state the same and not back that up with your rankings is, at best, shortsighted.
These rankings are all suggestive at the end of the day. They are popular talking points for fans, pundits, and national analysts and should be taken with a grain of salt. Dabo Swinney and the Tigers have always excelled at proving doubters wrong.
With that said, a little bit of common sense still goes a long way, too.
