In Part 1 of this series we looked at the defensive recruiting of Clemson in the 2012-14 window in the lead up to their 2016 National Championship, how they supplemented that recruiting with young players, and comparisons to Notre Dame then and now. Today, we’ll tackle the offense where Clemson hit on a generational quarterback but also provided plenty of air support to the program.

Notre Dame Recruit 2012-14
Clemson Recruit 2012-14
Notre Dame Recruit 2019-21

Quarterback

Notre Dame, Gunner Kiel 0.987
Clemson, Deshaun Watson 0.979
Notre Dame, Tyler Buchner 0.968
Notre Dame, Malik Zaire 0.930
Clemson, Chad Kelly 0.926
Notre Dame, Drew Pyne 0.916
Notre Dame, DeShone Kizer 0.907
Notre Dame, Brendon Clark 0.879
Notre Dame, Ron Powlus III 0.812

This topic has been covered so extensively it’s barely worth re-hashing today. Watson led Clemson to 50 points and broke 12 school records in his first career start as a true freshman against North Carolina in 2014 and never looked back while transforming the program into the elite stratosphere.

Notre Dame…did not have that happen. Kiel transferred out before his career got started culminating in a rocky but decent stint at Cincinnati while the Zaire/Kizer combo was largely bungled and full of injuries with a side of Brian VanGorder disease on the other side of the ball.

The fun thing to wonder about is if Buchner is The Guy whether the Irish are tracking along the same lines as Clemson in 2012-13 and that’s the big question. I think there’s a tendency to say, “Notre Dame’s recruiting was similar to Clemson in this timeframe and they’re only a quarterback away” but as we showed in the part 1 of this series the Tigers supplemented 2016 with an enormous defensive line haul in the 2 classes after recruiting Watson and as we’ll see below they didn’t just rest on their laurels helping their quarterback on offense, either.

Running Back

Notre Dame, Greg Bryant 0.976
Notre Dame, Chris Tyree 0.968
Notre Dame, Tarean Folston 0.950
Notre Dame, Keivarae Russell 0.943
Clemson, Tyshon Dye 0.929
Notre Dame, Will Mahone 0.917
Notre Dame, Audric Estime 0.910
Notre Dame, Kyren Williams 0.891
Notre Dame, Logan Diggs 0.877

Clemson got a heck of a career out of Wayne Gallman (0.893) technically listed as a linebacker recruit and would ride him almost exclusively to the title in 2016 with Dye, Adam Choice (listed below in the athlete section), and true freshman Tavien Feaster (0.981) playing smaller roles.

Notre Dame went through some lean recruiting years at running back recently but appears to be back on track for a program hoping to remain a constant in the Top 10 nationally while hitting on on Tyree as a near 5-star and developing Kyren Williams (and hoping to do the same with Estime and Diggs).

Wide Receiver

Notre Dame, Jordan Johnson 0.982
Clemson, Artavis Scott 0.967
Clemson, Germone Hopper 0.965
Notre Dame, Deon Colzie 0.957
Notre Dame, Justin Brent 0.955
Notre Dame, Lorenzo Styles 0.947
Clemson, Trevion Thompson 0.945
Clemson, Demarre Kitt 0.930
Notre Dame, Corey Holmes 0.924
Notre Dame, Torii Hunter 0.917
Clemson, Mike Williams 0.911
Notre Dame, Will Fuller 0.900
Notre Dame, Jayden Thomas 0.899
Notre Dame, James Onwualu 0.895
Notre Dame, Justin Ferguson 0.893
Clemson, Kyrin Priester 0.891 
Notre Dame, Xavier Watts 0.888
Notre Dame, Corey Robinson 0.882
Notre Dame, Cam Hart 0.871
Notre Dame, Jay Brunelle 0.862

Can you imagine if Fuller didn’t develop into Explosiva what this would’ve looked like for Notre Dame from the 2012-14 classes? The program did include high 4-stars in Justin Brent and Davonte Neal (listed below in the athlete section) who combined for a grand total of 1 reception before both transferred out. Huge whiffs, there.

Why were fans so impatient about Jordan Johnson, I wonder? It’s pretty wild to see him listed atop of this list of receivers. Now that he’s transferred it really hits home once again how things have not been going very well at receiver for Notre Dame. The program really needs to hit on Styles, Colzie, and a couple more future recruits in the 2022-23 classes.

Clemson’s run to 2016 was full of hits with their receivers, but of course things were far from perfect. Hopper caught 71 passes in 3 years before leaving for his 5th season, Kitt transferred after his first season, while Priester didn’t qualify in 2013 (sent to Fork Union Military Academy) and then was dismissed during his freshman year at Clemson. Thompson (53 catches across 4 seasons) never really lived up to his potential, either.

However, Artavis Scott and Mike Williams had phenomenal college careers combining for 422 receptions, 5,207 yards, and 40 touchdowns as key veterans on the 2016 championship team.

Additionally, just like the defensive line Clemson supplemented big time with young players after recruiting Watson at quarterback as Deon Cain (0.990) and Ray Ray McCloud (0.962) plus super walk-on Hunter Renfrow were all impact players immediately upon stepping on campus. This trio alone accounted for 131 catches, 1,691 yards, and 17 touchdowns during the 2016 season.

Before Justyn Ross (0.976), Tee Higgins (0.990), and Amari Rodgers (0.945) even made it to campus, Clemson’s 2016 receiving corps was a few notches better than anything Notre Dame has ever experienced.

Tight End

Notre Dame, Michael Mayer 0.983
Notre Dame, Kevin Bauman 0.917
Notre Dame, Cane Berrong .913

Notre Dame, Mike Heuerman 0.906
Notre Dame, Durham Smythe 0.905
Notre Dame, Nic Weishar 0.905
Notre Dame, Tyler Luatua 0.896
Clemson, Milan Richard 0.893
Notre Dame, Mitchell Evans 0.877
Clemson, Jordan Leggett 0.871

Milan Richard was a steady backup throughout his career while Jordan Leggett had a great 2-year run in 2015-16 including catching 86 total passes. It worked out pretty well for Clemson.

I’ll continue the tight end discussion below after we highlight the next position.

Offensive Line

Notre Dame, Blake Fisher 0.973
Notre Dame, Rocco Spindler 0.971

Notre Dame, Quenton Nelson .970
Notre Dame, Zeke Correll 0.957
Notre Dame, Hunter Bivin 0.954
Notre Dame, Tosh Baker 0.954
Notre Dame, Alex Bars 0.948
Notre Dame, Ronnie Stanley 0.947
Notre Dame, Quinn Carroll 0.947
Notre Dame, Steve Elmer 0.946
Clemson, Tyrone Crowder 0.946
Notre Dame, Jarron Jones 0.942
Notre Dame, Michael Carmody 0.935
Notre Dame, John Montelus 0.933
Notre Dame, Mike McGlinchey 0.928
Notre Dame, Andrew Kristofic 0.925
Notre Dame, John Olmstead 0.924

Notre Dame, Colin McGovern 0.920
Notre Dame, Sam Mustipher 0.912
Clemson, Cannon Smith 0.898
Notre Dame, Caleb Johnson 0.895
Notre Dame, Jimmy Byrne 0.892
Clemson, D.J. Reader 0.890
Notre Dame, Joe Alt 0.886
Notre Dame, Mark Harrell 0.879
Clemson, Jay Guillermo 0.879
Notre Dame, Pat Coogan 0.870
Clemson, Patrick DeStefano 0.867
Clemson, Isaiah Battle 0.865
Clemson, Justin Falcinelli 0.865
Clemson, Taylor Hearn 0.850
Clemson, Maverick Morris 0.854
Clemson, Oliver Jones 0.848

One of the things about Clemson’s 2016 run was that while QB/WR/DL got all the press they largely skated by with a very average (relatively speaking) offensive line, and by extension, running game.

They added true sophomore Mitch Hyatt (0.989) who was highly-touted and started at left tackle while true freshman Sean Pollard (0.902) started at right tackle in 2016. They combined with Crowder, Guillermo, and Hearn listed above while no one ended up being drafted or is currently on a NFL roster. Imagine Notre Dame winning a National Championship and that happening with their offensive line?

As we know well, Notre Dame’s blue-chip rate is boosted heavily from the offensive line and tight end positions but that hasn’t necessarily moved the needle towards elite status. I know fans don’t like hearing it, but these positions are overrated.

Athlete

Notre Dame, Davonte Neal 0.974
Clemson, Zac Brooks 0.918
Clemson, Jayron Kearse 0.912
Clemson, Adam Choice 0.901
Notre Dame Rashad Kinlaw 0.883
Notre Dame, Chris Brown 0.882
Notre Dame, Kendall Abdur-Rahman 0.878
Notre Dame, Nicky Baratti 0.877
Notre Dame, Ramon Henderson 0.870
Notre Dame, JoJo Johnson 0.864

Clemson, T.J. Green 0.850
Clemson, Jay Jay McCullough 0.847
Clemson, Marcus Edmond 0.817

Brooks was a career backup running back and 7th round pick, Kearse became a starting safety and another 7th round pick, Choice broke 1,000 yards rushing but went undrafted, Green converted from receiver to safety eventually developing into a starter and 2nd round pick, McCullough didn’t do much at tight end, while we mentioned in part 1 that Edmond started at safety in 2016.

Notre Dame lost Neal and Kinlaw to transfer early in their careers, Brown had a nice career with 104 receptions, while Baratti looked promising early and could never overcome shoulder injuries.

***

The Bottom Line

This series began because of Bill Connelly’s idea that due to Notre Dame’s recent on-field success, infrastructure, and blue-chip rate they could become the “Next Clemson.” I’ve been mostly taking that to mean could the Irish win a single National Championship, right?

I don’t think it’s possible at the moment for Notre Dame to become the next Clemson in terms of 2 National Championships and to replicate their current run of success. The Tigers are 88-8 (.916) since Deshaun Watson first started a game with top 5 finishes in each of the last 6 seasons. Nothing like that has ever existed in AP-era for Notre Dame. Clemson was once recruiting modestly well (like the Irish) but have since jacked up the star power, for example, signing the country’s top quarterback in 2020, and then signing 2 defensive linemen even more highly rated than said quarterback, from a total of 11 players inside the Top 103 national prospects.

The more interesting topic is if Buchner turns into an elite quarterback can the program be in a place in 2023 similar to Clemson heading into 2016 for just one title?

At the positions of offensive line, tight end, running back, and linebacker it seems very possible with the way Notre Dame has recruited. Defensive line and the secondary are trickier because the Irish are unlikely to match Clemson’s beefy star power up front and would therefore need to recruit and develop better that what the Tigers did in the secondary.

Lastly, the receiving corps is kind of the final frontier. Who would’ve thought with Kelly’s background this would be such an issue? Granted, it’s more of a quarterback/wideout combination issue as the Irish have had receivers taken 13th, 21st, 49th, 93rd, 189th, and 207th overall in the NFL Draft under Kelly. However, to be like Clemson, at minimum, you’ll likely need a rich man’s version of Chase Claypool and Miles Boykin on the field at the same time with a third receiver capable of taking over a game, too. This type of elite production has remained elusive for Notre Dame.