The nation’s No. 1 overall offensive tackle, five-star Jackson Carman, committed to Clemson over Ohio State on Wednesday, choosing to stay in his home state of South Carolina to play college ball. After his commitment, Carman told an Ohio State reporter that Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney said some things about Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer to Carman that played a factor in his commitment.
No. 1 OT Jackson Carman says Dabo Swinney implied Urban Meyer won’t coach much longer
Swinney was asked about this on Wednesday.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Swinney was asked about this later on Wednesday:
If what Swinney said was true, this would be what is called negative recruiting, a tactic used on the road to sway prospects away from other schools. Steven Godfrey and Bud Elliott broke down the whole nature of it nicely last February:
Godfrey: Let’s break down exactly why this is so popular and -- at least sometimes -- effective. I talked to head coaches and assistants, and it was surprising to see how similar their responses were.
1. “If a top kid locks in on a school early, maybe even up to five years ago, that meant most other coaches would pull back if they believed it was a solid commitment. That doesn’t happen anymore,” a Big Ten assistant said.
2. “What I’ve heard from kids we land early is that our rivals spend a full year attacking us. They don’t have to sell themselves. They just have to attack us,” an SEC assistant said. “You aren’t selling your school, you’re just creating doubt about another. So, now any game we lose, any other kid at the same position we offer (or an outlet says we offer), all that is sent back to the recruit. ‘What do you think about this? See, they’re a bad fit for you.’”
3. “What’s most interesting to me is, with this method, these other coaches aren’t focused on offering anything positive,” a head coach said. “The primary focus isn’t on their school. It’s why your program is bad.”
4. “It’s definitely harder [to recruit] when you’re one of 15 or 20 [contenders for a player],” an AAC assistant said. “Some coaches feel like a recruit is never really seriously interested in that many schools, that they’re just celebrating the attention, but you usually think, ‘okay, he’s got five or six he’s gonna look at.’ If you know it’s you and these three schools, great. If you know he’s locked into one school, well now, everything in your pitch is built around how you stack up to that one school. Where are you better? What can you offer they can’t?”
5. “What happens is, and maybe this is a positive from this, you end up having a stronger relationship,” the head coach said. “You field so much of this stuff, where the parents are calling you, asking if a rumor is true, that you tend to spend more time just getting to know them.”
Meyer, who is just 53 years old, likely has some years left in him to coach, but if Ohio State doesn’t play for a title or a major bowl in the next few years, you could speculate he may hang it up in Columbus sooner rather than later. (Remember what happened at Florida in 2009?)
Regardless, Swinney is the one who ended up with Carman, who was high on Clemson when SB Nation spoke with him in the spring:
Carman named the Tigers his leader last spring and has spoken glowingly about them. In an interview in April, Clemson seemed to be even with Ohio State, and maybe a small notch ahead. (These things can change quickly.)
Clemson recruited him hard.
Carman said he felt comfortable at Clemson, and he enjoyed the Tigers’ bonkers new facility that includes an indoor slide and a miniature golf course. He tried out both.
“Clemson, their facilities are crazy,” he told SB Nation. “It’s an amazing place down there, and I like the people there — the recruits, the players. I just really feel at home there almost, you know?”
We’ll see if Meyer has a response to Wasserman’s reporting.
