Posted by Chili

Clemson tonight has dropped its recruitment of Florida RB commit Marlin Lane. Lane had been really solid to the Tigers for a long while now, but the staff was apparently alarmed at his being arrested in late December allegedly with pot on him. He had also started taking visits to other schools of late, which one can only speculate played into Clemson’s decision. Lane’s high school teammate, Clemson commit Cortez Davis, insists he’s still firm with the Tigers.

Posted by Chili

Man I love this guy he's already praying - Tigernet

CHAD MORRIS HIRED AS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
Tulsa’s OC Chad Morris has been hired on at the same position with the Tigers, per Joe Schad’s Twitter feed. Morris, as we speculated earlier, was Dabo’s top target. Texas, TAMU, and Oklahoma State had all looked into hiring him as well. Recruits had already been told the new hire would be a spread guy and this plays well into what the Tigers have coming back or are recruiting for next year. Next weekend is the big recruiting weekend for Clemson and it was vital to have a guy on board before then. Again, Morris is a Gus Malzahn disciple who is well thought of in the Oklahoma/Texas area. Dabo is taking a gamble of sorts on such a young guy, who was coaching Texas HS football just a year ago. The many skill players Clemson is targeting have got to be licking their chops at the prospect of airing it out next year.

MARION HOBBY RETURNS TO CLEMSON
Duke’s assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Marion Hobby has agreed to join the staff of the Clemson Tigers, where he was an assistant coach in 2005. Hobby played at Tennessee and coached under David Cutcliffe at Ole Miss, rejoining Cut at Duke after stints at Clemson and the New Orleans Saints.
There were a lot of mixed signals when it came to confirming whether or not Hobby had jumped on board. CUTigers jumped the gun and reported it was a done deal. David Cutcliffe was then contacted and stated no such thing had happened and that Hobby was out recruiting for the Blue Devils. Geoff Hart of WYFF then reported that it appeared Hobby would remain at Duke. TI, the most reliable source in this whole thing, has confirmed that Hobby is indeed returning to Clemson. We’ll have more details on his new position and salary (Duke paid their staff well, so it’s likely we had to shell out a good chunk of change for Hobby) when they become available. LET’S HOPE HE MAKES IT HIS HOBBY TO WIN GAMES AND RECRUIT WELL.

4-STAR LINEBACKER COMMITS IN STYLE
Lateek Townsend of Marlboro Country, who announced his commitment to the Gamecocks Tigers at a sports banquet this year only to later say no such thing happened, was set to announce his commitment on national TV during the second quarter of yesterday’s US Army All-American Game. He then reneged on that and moved his announcement to the end of the game. With Clemson, LSU, and Sakerlina hats in front of him, Lateek proceeded to grab the mic from the douchey announcer guy and take over the show. Check it out:

This easily makes him my favorite commit so far, and helps to fill badly needed slots at linebacker. As with all commits, I hope he signs on the line which is dotted.

BROWNELL’S BUNCH BEATS BMIAMI
Brad Brownell has quietly been doing solid work with this Clemson team. With a serious lack of roster depth he’s working with less than a full deck here. Yesterday they beat Miami at Littlejohn to the tune of 79-72 to get their first ACC win. The Tigers move to 12-4, 1-1 in league play. Jerai Grant had a monster game with 18 pts and 11 boards, while Demontez Stitt tossed in 17 pts.

Posted by Chili

This morning Alabama started talking to Clemson defensive ends coach Chris Rumph and it is expected to be announced soon that he is gone. He was a great recruiter for us and was point man on RB Marlin Lane. With Mike Bellamy on the ropes already Clemson could see their two top RB recruits (Also 2 of the top RBs in the nation) end up elsewhere on signing day. With Dabo’s days almost assuredly numbered, it’s no surprise to see coaches jumping ship.

Posted by Chili

Up to now we were only aware of one serious OC candidate – Tulsa’s Chad Morris. Now we know that Dabo Swinney plans on interviewing Justin Fuente, the current co-offensive coordinator at undefeated TCU. According to Fuente’s team page, he’s in his 4th year at TCU and has been co-OC since early 2009. Fuente has had co-command of a TCU offense that set school records for points scored, total offense, and first downs. Tiger fans should recognize the offense from TCU’s victorious trip to Clemson in 2009.

Fuente is scheduled to be interviewed later this week.

Posted by Chili

Everything that is being reported so far leads me to believe that Clemson’s next offensive coordinator will be Tulsa OC Chad Morris. Why?

- We know that Morris has already been contacted by Swinney and is the only candidate with whom Clemson has confirmed contact
- Morris is a guy who Dabo will not feel challenged by, unlike Napier who constantly clashed with Swinney
- Tulsa ran a spread offense with lots of gimmicks. Morris’s up-tempo style plays into our strengths (skill players) and weaknesses (we lack the OL for power rushing offense)
- Morris is a Gus Malzahn disciple and Swinney feels he’s on the verge of being a hot commodity. Malzahn recommended him for the post at Tulsa
- Money is probably an issue as well. A guy like Fridge would command a high salary, whereas a coach as young and with just a single year of D-1 experience like Morris wouldn’t cost quite as much

More on this when there’s something to report.