Josh Pate comments on Clemson's Blue-Chip Ratio
The ACC promises to be one of the more hotly-contested conferences in the country, at least according to most major sportsbooks. Even though Clemson has won 7 out of the last 8 conference titles, the narrative that the Tigers have fallen back to the pack continues to permeate, as Florida State is now the hot pick to win the league in 2023.
While the last couple of years have been a step back from their dominant run from 2015-2020, Clemson clearly remains the most talented team in the conference. 247Sports recently released their updated "Blue-Chip Ratio", a metric that measures what percentage of a team's roster is made up of 4 and 5-star recruits. Clemson (70%) and Miami (61%) were the only two ACC schools in the top 15.
Clemson (70%) is the top-ranked ACC team in 247Sports' Blue-Chip Ratio. (Clemson Athletics)
"I think Clemson being there may not shock a ton of you," said Josh Pate on the Late Kick Podcast. "Although there's the feel out there in the neighborhood that they may have fallen off a little bit, in terms of just raw talent, they haven't fallen off all that much at all."
Pate did add a caveat to his take on Clemson, pointing out that Clemson still has to develop the talent they acquire and hope that players emerge at positions of need.
"Now, what you do with that talent; how it's developed, is it dispersed evenly over key position groups, i.e. wide receiver? Maybe not so much lately. Although they've had quite the haul on the recruiting trail lately... 72% of their roster is made up of 4 and 5-stars."
So, at least according to recruiting rankings, Clemson has far and away the best roster in the conference. How does that compare to their assumed main competition in Florida State?
"Florida State, even with all their Transfer Portal additions, is at 41%.," remarked Pate. "History tells us that's not good enough to win a National Championship. Vegas odds put them right in the thick of that College Football Playoff race... I think right now, they're the odds-on favorite to win [the ACC] according to Caesars."
We'll find out where Clemson and Florida State stack up when the two meet in week 4 at Clemson.
More Clemson Football News:
- Clemson stays hot, lands 5-star wide receiver Bryant Wesco
- Clemson lands 4-star receiver TJ Moore
- Sammy Brown Commits to Clemson
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