Fact Or Fiction: Clemson’s Recruiting Rivalry With Tennessee Is Heating Up

Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman is joined by national recruiting director Adam Gorney, Paul Strelow of TigerIllustrated.com and Jacey Zembal of TheWolfpackCentral.com to tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.

Friedman: FICTION. It was not a banner year for linebackers or running backs in the NFL Draft but running backs are still valued less by NFL teams than linebackers.

Green Bay selected Texas A&M’s Edgerrin Cooper as the first linebacker of the draft with the 13th pick of the second round and running back Jonathan Brooks was selected by Carolina with the very next pick.

There were a total of 20 linebackers and 19 running backs picked in the draft this year. In the first three rounds of the draft, only four running backs were taken but there were seven linebackers selected.

Linebackers are still valued more than running backs when it comes to NFL free agency. There were three linebackers (Patrick Queen, Azeez Al-Shaair and Frankie Luvu) who recently signed new contracts with a per year average over $10 million. Only two running backs (Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs) got deals that size.

Gorney: FICTION. There was only one linebacker taken in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft – and Dallas Turner is more of an edge rusher anyway – but there were still two taken in the second round and it was considered a weaker group of linebackers in this draft class. Last year, there were four linebackers drafted in the first round so it’s still an important position where NFL teams are looking for length and athleticism and sometimes that’s hard to come by.

Many top NFL running backs are getting big paydays again so maybe that position is coming back in popularity but it’s still something where running backs would come off early in the first round and that’s just no longer the case.

Linebacker was not as important this year but running back and safety it seems has fallen off in each draft year.

Friedman: FACT. The Tigers and Volunteers have been recruiting against each other for years but two high-profile recruitments have put both programs in the spotlight again. Five-star offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. is seriously considering Clemson and Tennessee along with Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State and South Carolina. A pair of visits to Clemson earlier this year gave the Tigers a bunch of momentum but back-to-back visits to Knoxville has really helped Tennessee as we get closer to official visit season.

Four-star safety Jordan Young has Clemson and Tennessee among his top contenders but Tennessee seems to be in great position to overtake early favorite Clemson. Young isn’t scheduled to announce his commitment until October but Tennessee has the final official visit in June before the dead period. Young is expecting to take a number of other official visits once the season begins this fall but the battle between Clemson and Tennessee will rage on.

Clemson and Tennessee have competed for top-ranked prospects out of North Carolina in the past but Sanders and Young seem to be focusing in on these two programs as their recruiting processes enter pivotal stages.

Strelow: FACT. Truth of the matter is, it picked up two seasons ago when Tennessee cranked out an explosive offense that displaced Clemson as the sexy attraction in the region.

That empowered the Vols to prevail for high-profile Mike Matthews last cycle, and they would beat the Tigers for lineman William Satterwhite, too. Yet as they squared off in more head-to-head battles, Clemson won its share by stealing out offensive lineman Ronan O’Connell to go with several Tennessee wanted in linebacker Sammy Brown and safety Ricardo Jones among others.

Tennessee’s recent move to surpass Clemson as the favorite for Sanders brightens the spotlight on this burgeoning rivalry, so to speak. But they are also reasonably dueling for Monroe (N.C.) four-star safety Jordan Young and among the top two or three for Roswell (Ga.) Fellowship Christian four-star lineman Josh Petty and Bogart (Ga.) Prince Avenue Christian four-star defensive tackle Christian Garrett.

And as we peek ahead to the 2026 class, you can see scenarios by which they’d be the ones battling for Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day four-star lineman Leo Delaney, maybe Irmo (S.C.) receiver Donovan Murph or Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic receiver Tyreek King, even Cornelius (N.C.) Hough four-star corner Samari Matthews.

Josh Heupel and NIL have made a game of it in the area again.

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Friedman: FICTION. State government officials in North Carolina are mulling a bill that would force North Carolina and NC State to play East Carolina, Appalachian State or Charlotte every year. The lawmakers also want to make sure East Carolina, Appalachian State and Charlotte get to host North Carolina and NC State once every six years.

This seems like an odd topic for lawmakers to get involved with but state politics can take strange turns. If lawmakers are trying to boost the profile of schools within their borders, then good for them but they’ll be doing so at the detriment of the state’s two flagship universities.

A win over smaller schools like these won’t help North Carolina or NC State very much in the polls and the potential for a loss by either of them will obviously hurt much more. Missing out on the spotlight that would come with a matchup against a much larger opponent would obviously hurt their wallets and the benefits that come with a win in that hypothetical matchup with help with a push towards the College Football Playoff.

Bigger matchups, the attention they draw, and the possibility of a birth in the College Football Playoff all help on the recruiting trail.

Zembal: FACT. NC State and North Carolina might not be thrilled with being forced to play Appalachian State, Charlotte and East Carolina in perpetuity, but it could help in recruiting — if the Wolfpack and Tar Heels win the games. The two ACC programs have or will be playing their neighboring schools in football — due in part to past state politics. NC State men’s basketball doesn’t normally play home-and-home against those three programs, and haven’t played Charlotte in any setting since the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

NC State has been playing East Carolina semi-regularly since 1970, with the longest drought coming between 1987-1992 and 1999-2004. The games are spirited and usually packed with fans and better than a lesser name opponent from outside the region. The last NC State football game with Appalachian State came in 2006, and NCSU has never played Charlotte. The Wolfpack have a series with the Mountaineers in 2025 and 2026, and with the 49ers in 2030 and 2031. Those will be a test run of sorts if the bill passes this July.

For recruiting purposes, a game at Charlotte in particular will open up a window to a talent-rich area of players that are within a 60-minute drive. Recruits from Charlotte and the suburbs, Rock Hill, S.C., or Shelby, N.C., can easily make that drive, plus perhaps even from Asheville, N.C. NC State has played showcase games in the Queen City in the past, and have Tennessee coming up this fall. Sure, some players will drive to Carter-Finley Stadium, but they’ll love getting to see games much closer to home. There aren’t as many prep football recruits near Boone, N.C., or Greenville, N.C., but if having a shorter drive gets them to attend, that’s always a win.

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