The Clemson Insider thought it would be interesting to analyze the matchups on Clemson’s 2020 schedule from a recruiting standpoint by going back and looking at where the Tigers’ projected starters were ranked as recruits versus where the projected starters for their opponents were ranked.
In this article, we break down Clemson’s game against Florida State on Oct 10. Below is a rundown of the projected starters for both teams, as it stands now, and their high school star ratings and prospect rankings according to the 247Sports Composite:
Clemson offense:
LT – Jackson Carman (5-star, No. 17 national, No. 2 OT)
LG – Matt Bockhorst (4-star, No. 240 national, No. 17 OG)
C – Cade Stewart (3-star, No. 2021 national, No. 163 OT)
RG – Will Putnam (4-star, No. 101 national, No. 5 OG)
RT – Jordan McFadden (3-star, No. 819 national, No. 66 OT)
TE – Braden Galloway (3-star, No. 858 national, No. 41 TE)
WR – Joseph Ngata (4-star, No. 52 national, No. 9 WR)
QB – Trevor Lawrence (5-star, No. 1 national, No. 1 QB)
RB – Travis Etienne (4-star, No. 213 national, No. 15 RB)
WR – Justyn Ross (4-star, No. 45 national, No. 7 WR)
WR – Amari Rodgers (4-star, No. 117 national, No. 16 WR)
Clemson defense:
DE – Justin Foster (4-star, No. 156 national, No. 11 WDE)
DT – Tyler Davis (4-star, No. 137 national, No. 12 DT)
DT – Nyles Pinckney (4-star, No. 327 national, No. 34 DT)
DE – Xavier Thomas (5-star, No. 3 national, No. 1 SDE)
SLB/NB – Mike Jones Jr. (4-star, No. 210 national, No. 15 OLB)
MLB – James Skalski (3-star, No. 680 national, No. 44 OLB)
WLB – Baylon Spector (3-star, No. 609 national, No. 45 S)
CB – Derion Kendrick (5-star, No. 26 national, No. 4 WR)
SS – Lannden Zanders (3-star, No. 781 national, No. 61 S)
FS – Nolan Turner (NR)
CB – Mario Goodrich (4-star, No. 114 national, No. 4 ATH)
Florida State offense:
QB – James Blackman (3-star, No. 389 national, No. 16 PRO)
RB – Khalan Laborn (5-star, No. 29 national, No. 1 APB)
WR – Tamorrion Terry (3-star, No. 350 national, No. 52 WR)
WR – Ontaria Wilson (3-star, No. 740 national, No. 75 CB)
WR – D.J. Matthews (4-star, No. 51 national, No. 8 WR)
TE – Camren McDonald (4-star, No. 290 national, No. 15 TE)
LT – Devontay Love-Taylor (2-star, No. 2695 national, No. 123 SDE)
LG – Brady Scott (3-star, No. 1055 national, No. 94 OT)
C – Andrew Boselli (3-star, No. 726 national, No. 31 OG)
RG – Maurice Smith (3-star, No. 1093 national, No. 58 OG)
RT – Chaz Neal (3-star, No. 1215 national, No. 69 WDE)
Florida State defense:
DE – Joshua Kaindoh (5-star, No. 10 national, No. 3 WDE)
DT – Marvin Wilson (5-star, No. 6 national, No. 1 DT)
NT – Robert Cooper (4-star, No. 117 national, No. 9 DT)
DE – Janarius Robinson (4-star, No. 86 national, No. 7 WDE)
MLB – Leonard Warner (4-star, No. 174 national, No. 7 ILB)
WLB – Emmett Rice (3-star, No. 395 national, No. 27 OLB)
SLB – Amari Gainer (4-star, No. 239 national, No. 18 OLB)
CB – Asante Samuel Jr. (4-star, No. 60 national, No. 9 CB)
S – Carlos Becker (4-star, No. 163 national, No. 16 CB)
S – Cyrus Fagan (4-star, No. 97 national, No. 13 S)
CB – Renardo Green (3-star, No. 486 national, No. 47 CB)
Notes:
As you might expect, a look at Florida State’s projected starters and where they ranked as recruits show that the Seminoles are clearly one of, if not the most talented team Clemson will face during the regular season, at least on paper. FSU has a total of nine former four-star prospects among its projected starters to go with three former five-stars. Meanwhile, the Tigers’ projected starting lineups consist of 11 former four-star prospects and four former five-stars. Clemson’s projected starters include six players that were ranked as top-100 national recruits, while FSU has seven such players in its projected starting lineups. FSU is especially talented up front on defense, led by a pair of former five-stars — defensive end Joshua Kaindoh and defensive tackle Marvin Wilson. The Clemson-FSU rivalry has not been competitive the last few years with the Tigers dominating, but the Seminoles have the talent under first-year head coach Mike Norvell to potentially present a challenge when they host Clemson in Tallahassee on Oct. 10.
**All ratings/rankings according to the 247Sports Composite
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