Clemson’s talent on the rise

By Bob Wilson  |   Tuesday, May 08, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

 Clemson Tigers
Five Clemson Tigers were drafted by NFL teams this year -- the most since six were taken in 1999 -- highlighted by Gaines Adams going as the fourth overall pick to Tampa Bay. Anthony Waters was the only other first-day pick, being drafted in the third round. Dustin Fry and C.J. Gaddis both were fifth-round picks, and the Jets' seventh-round...
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CommentsComments: 1
 No.1
Marc H.		 12:39 PM
05/11/2007
Very good article. I realize I rag on Bowden pretty continuously, but I gotta hand the guy two positives he's shown me in his career: 1) getting quality talent into the program. Granted, not like LSU and litter the first round with our players, but there is interest among NFL teams and that's a positive sign. Sure, it's not elite-level like an Ohio State or Southern Cal or Florida, but it's more than enough to compete for or win the ACC title more often than not. 2) Unlike his predecessors Tommy Bowden is able to beat FSU with regularity. Before Bowden you could pretty much count on the FSU game as being a certain loss; it's certainly not like that anymore. So to beat FSU regularly is a very important step in competing in the ACC. But there are other steps that Bowden seems to stumble on more often than not.

This past draft has proven the talent is indeed on the rise. But Bowden's #1 job is not to prep these kids for the NFL; it's not only to win games but to compete for or outright win ACC titles, and he's simply not close to doing that. Not because we don't have a lot of 1st-round caliber talent. As nice as that would be we don't need that talent level to win the ACC (let's face it, this isn't the SEC or Pac-10). But rather because the current coaching staff is simply incapable of taking these already-talented kids to the next level of play (title contention) and put rings on their fingers. And winning conference titles matters more than being an NFL farm team.
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