Alabama vs Clemson

#801
#801
BowlBrother85 said:
Here is what amazes me about Clemson's success...

Clemson, South Carolina (Population 16,649 - per the most recent census estimates)

* Clemson is the 28th largest city in the state of South Carolina, which is the 23rd largest state.
* Clemson has a total area of 7.9 square miles.
* Clemson is 278 miles from Hilton Head (est. 4 hr 30 min drive) and 283 miles from Myrtle Beach (est. 4 hr 35 min drive).

How is it possible to recruit players from out of state to such an incredibly small town in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina, especially when you are so far from the coastline (and can't sell the beach as an attraction)? As a point of reference for people who live or have lived in the Knoxville area but have never been through there, Clemson is about half the size of Maryville (which has a population of 28,765 and a total area of 16.8 square miles).

I don't get it... how do they recruit so well? On the surface, their town seems like an impossible sell to out of state players.
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Brother is a Clemson graduate so I’ve been there a lot. Clemson is maybe the nicest campus I’ve set foot on. Beautiful campus. The town has that college town feel everywhere you go. Everybody loves Clemson over there. Fan base is loyal and dedicated just like ours. Stadium experience is great. Touching the rock is a little overrated for me but it still holds 80K+ and those decks go straight up so it gets loud. Oh yeah they now have a tradition of winning and being elite. Same reason recruits flock to Tuscaloosa which isn’t exactly a bastion of modern society.
 
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#802
#802
BowlBrother85 said:
I don't get it... how do they recruit so well? On the surface, their town seems like an impossible sell to out of state players.
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My guess is that you start with the head coach. I'm 42 years old, and I'm ready to go play for Dabo after his post-game interview last night. You can tell that he is spiritually-grounded, football fundamentally-sound, knows the importance of team chemistry, full of positivity, and loves his players.
 
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#805
#805
BowlBrother85 said:
Here is what amazes me about Clemson's success...

Clemson, South Carolina (Population 16,649 - per the most recent census estimates)

* Clemson is the 28th largest city in the state of South Carolina, which is the 23rd largest state.
* Clemson has a total area of 7.9 square miles.
* Clemson is 278 miles from Hilton Head (est. 4 hr 30 min drive) and 283 miles from Myrtle Beach (est. 4 hr 35 min drive).

How is it possible to recruit players from out of state to such an incredibly small town in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina, especially when you are so far from the coastline (and can't sell the beach as an attraction)? As a point of reference for people who live or have lived in the Knoxville area but have never been through there, Clemson is about half the size of Maryville (which has a population of 28,765 and a total area of 16.8 square miles).

I don't get it... how do they recruit so well? On the surface, their town seems like an impossible sell to out of state players.
Click to expand...

Clemson is a beautiful town, it is one of the best college towns in the country.
 
#806
#806
Don't look at the score Nick...it will kill you.

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#811
#811
solivols said:
Brother is a Clemson graduate so I’ve been there a lot. Clemson is maybe the nicest campus I’ve set foot on. Beautiful campus. The town has that college town feel everywhere you go. Everybody loves Clemson over there. Fan base is loyal and dedicated just like ours. Stadium experience is great. Touching the rock is a little overrated for me but it still holds 80K+ and those decks go straight up so it gets loud. Oh yeah they now have a tradition of winning and being elite. Same reason recruits flock to Tuscaloosa which isn’t exactly a bastion of modern society.
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It seems like a much smaller town than what you are quoting. Very little business district.
 
#812
#812
Pepe said:
It seems like a much smaller town than what you are quoting. Very little business district.
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It's a small town but as for the college town atmosphere there are few better. When I was a kid I went with my aunt to visit the campus and still remember the paws painted on the street.
 
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#813
#813
hog88 said:
It's a small town but as for the college town atmosphere there are few better. When I was a kid I went with my aunt to visit the campus and still remember the paws painted on the street.
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I lived in the mountains to the west of there for 3 years so I knew Clemson well. The only area of South Carolina in which I would live. While I was living there in 1978, and they went to the Gator Bowl against Ohio State, the frats got together and painted paw prints on the highway all the way down to Jacksonville.
 
#815
#815
Watching them give up in the 4th quarter was the best thing ever. Coming in a close second, is not having my Twitter feed filled with "RTR". The silence was awesome.
 
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#816
#816
Tua stats against the 3 top 15 defenses played this year:

57% passing
207.7 yards/game
1.33 td/game
1.67 int/game

He’s a great QB but I don’t really see him being any good in the NFL or when facing a team with equal or better talent.

By all accounts Trevor Lawrence is the real deal.
 
#820
#820
BowlBrother85 said:
Here is what amazes me about Clemson's success...

Clemson, South Carolina (Population 16,649 - per the most recent census estimates)

* Clemson is the 28th largest city in the state of South Carolina, which is the 23rd largest state.
* Clemson has a total area of 7.9 square miles.
* Clemson is 278 miles from Hilton Head (est. 4 hr 30 min drive) and 283 miles from Myrtle Beach (est. 4 hr 35 min drive).

How is it possible to recruit players from out of state to such an incredibly small town in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina, especially when you are so far from the coastline (and can't sell the beach as an attraction)? As a point of reference for people who live or have lived in the Knoxville area but have never been through there, Clemson is about half the size of Maryville (which has a population of 28,765 and a total area of 16.8 square miles).

I don't get it... how do they recruit so well? On the surface, their town seems like an impossible sell to out of state players.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what's so amazing about it. You can kind of put together the same list with Athens, except Athens is closer to a major city (how often to UGA students go into Atlanta anyway) and bigger than Clemson. They are still both small college towns out in the middle of nowhere. I've never been to Clemson or Athens, but I've heard Clemson described as a smaller Athens. I'd say they are both far more appealing than Tuscaloosa.

Of course you can sell the beach as an attraction at Clemson - I mean, 4.5 hours isn't an eternity. The beach isn't a short trip down the road, but it is short enough where you could go there for along weekend and come back. 4.5 hours isn't very much further than Athens, the same time from Tuscaloosa, and is quite a bit shorter than Knoxville. You can sell the lakes and mountains too. Is a top in-state recruit going to choose South Carolina over Clemson because Columbia is 2.5 hrs from Hilton Head and Clemson is 4.5?
 
#822
#822
05_never_again said:
I'm not sure what's so amazing about it. You can kind of put together the same list with Athens, except Athens is closer to a major city (how often to UGA students go into Atlanta anyway) and bigger than Clemson. They are still both small college towns out in the middle of nowhere. I've never been to Clemson or Athens, but I've heard Clemson described as a smaller Athens. I'd say they are both far more appealing than Tuscaloosa.

Of course you can sell the beach as an attraction at Clemson - I mean, 4.5 hours isn't an eternity. The beach isn't a short trip down the road, but it is short enough where you could go there for along weekend and come back. 4.5 hours isn't very much further than Athens, the same time from Tuscaloosa, and is quite a bit shorter than Knoxville. You can sell the lakes and mountains too. Is a top in-state recruit going to choose South Carolina over Clemson because Columbia is 2.5 hrs from Hilton Head and Clemson is 4.5?
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Athens, Georgia is no way comparable to Clemson, South Carolina. Athens has a population of 127,064 people. It is a small town but it's not half the size of Maryville, Tennessee either. A 4 1/2 drive is not something you can sell to a college student as something they can make on a routine basis to find entertainment. That would be even more ridiculous than Tennessee selling Nashville (which is just 2 1/2 hours away). This is an increcibly small town we are talking about here, 16,000 people is ridiculously small... it makes Mayberry a metropolis by comparison.
 
#823
#823
solivols said:
Brother is a Clemson graduate so I’ve been there a lot. Clemson is maybe the nicest campus I’ve set foot on. Beautiful campus. The town has that college town feel everywhere you go. Everybody loves Clemson over there. Fan base is loyal and dedicated just like ours. Stadium experience is great. Touching the rock is a little overrated for me but it still holds 80K+ and those decks go straight up so it gets loud. Oh yeah they now have a tradition of winning and being elite. Same reason recruits flock to Tuscaloosa which isn’t exactly a bastion of modern society.
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I'm sure everything you said in it's favor is true... and yet... damn, that is an awfully small town to recruit to. I was born and raised in Knoxville and I've always thought of it as a small town as well. Clemson makes Knoxville look like NYC.
 
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#825
#825
BowlBrother85 said:
Athens, Georgia is no way comparable to Clemson, South Carolina. Athens has a population of 127,064 people. It is a small town but it's not half the size of Maryville, Tennessee either. A 4 1/2 drive is not something you can sell to a college student as something they can make on a routine basis to find entertainment. That would be even more ridiculous than Tennessee selling Nashville (which is just 2 1/2 hours away). This is an increcibly small town we are talking about here, 16,000 people is ridiculously small... it makes Mayberry a metropolis by comparison.
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Sure it is. Athens is a consolidated city-county government so that 127k figure includes everyone in the entire county, not just what used to be considered the City of Athens. I don't know what it is, but the population within what used to be the city limits is probably quite a bit smaller than that. The entire city-county is quite a bit smaller than the just the City of Chattanooga, where I live, and Chattanooga isn't big at all. Athens and Clemson have much more in common with each other than a city like Chattanooga.

As far as selling the beach and a 4.5 hour drive being too far, Alabama seems to be doing OK despite also being 4.5 hours away from Gulf Shores. Ohio St does OK being a cold wasteland during the winter. Oklahoma does OK. Penn St does OK. College kids aren't necessarily looking for big city living - they are looking for a great coach/program and provided the college isn't located in Siberia, you can recruit there even if the town isn't some metropolis.
 
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