Fact or Fiction: Shipley a lock for Clemson, Kiffin vs. Leach
National recruiting director Mike Farrell and national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney tackle three topics daily and determine whether they believe the statements or not.
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FACT OR FICTION: Trey Sermon is key to national title
CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
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1. There is another Chase Young out there in college football for 2020.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. There are some talented defensive ends in 2020 led by Greg Rousseau from Miami and Chris Rumph from Duke but no one near the freakish talent level of Young. That doesn’t mean Young is a generational talent like many say because how can he be with Joey and Nick Bosa ahead of him in the NFL. But when looking at the landscape at defensive end in 2020, there will be no lead dog like Young.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. I don’t think there is someone as freakish and special as Young but Rousseau is very close and he arguably had a better season than Young in 2019, although nearly all the discussion surrounded the Ohio State defensive end. Rousseau finished with 15.5 sacks (one fewer than Young and 54 tackles, eight more than Young). He didn’t get the attention but Rousseau might have played himself into a top-five pick with his performance last season.
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2. Will Shipley is a lock for Clemson.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. Many feel the talented running back will choose Clemson in the end and that might happen but watch out for Notre Dame and UNC here. He’s very tight with a lot of Notre Dame 2021 commitments and running backs coach Lance Taylor is a big deal because he coached Christian McCaffrey at Stanford and in the NFL. Shipley has been compared with McCaffrey often and obviously likes those comparisons. As for UNC, it’s home and it is recruiting at a very high level. Clemson has its work cut out to land Shipley.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. I don’t ever like betting against Clemson and he would be absolutely dynamic in that offense but Notre Dame is a huge player here. Shipley has a great relationship with some Irish commits and they’re working hard to get him in this class. He was supposed to be at Notre Dame for its major junior day coming up but the coronavirus pandemic put an end to that. I’m not buying the North Carolina talk as this feels like a Clemson/Notre Dame battle.
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3. Lane Kiffin will out-recruit Mike Leach in an interesting recruiting battle.
Farrell’s take: FACT. Kiffin is off to a slower start than expected at Ole Miss while Leach is doing a solid job so far at Mississippi State, but eventually Kiffin will take over this battle and it should happen in 2021. Ole Miss is being mentioned more often than Mississippi State by big-named recruits and a top 25 class could happen.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. Will Kiffin have a higher-ranked class than Leach? Possibly. But Leach is the better coach, he gets more out of his players and he takes prospects who fit his system and then they all have huge stats in their career. Leach worked wonders at Washington State with no recruiting base and now he’s in a more talent-rich state and region where he could really make things happen. I’d take Leach any day.
