As expected, Napier hired as assistant coach

As expected, Napier hired as assistant coach

Billy Napier, a former Clemson graduate assistant, has been hired to coach tight ends at Clemson. Napier was a former standout quarterback at Furman and had recently worked at South Carolina State.

The buzz on Napier from Tigernetters "in the know" is that he'll be a great recruiter. Also, he's already familiar with the staff, and his knowledge and experience at quarterback is viewed as a plus.

And, interestingly, some posters seem to think the fact that Clemson will be paying him less than the other coaches is a good thing.

* Are we weak academically? That seems to be the thrust of a completely unscientific study from the Orlando Sentinel that was highlighted at College Football Resource. (Thanks for the link, BTW.) Take it with a large grain of salt.

Gardocki gets Super Bowl ring

Former Clemson punter Chris Gardocki, who now plays with the Pittsburgh Steelers, earned the ring with Sunday's victory against the Seattle Seahawks. Congratulations, Chris. Do you have any college eligibility left?

Meanwhile, Seattle's Leroy Hill, another former Tiger, is getting some publicity, too, but not the kind he'll put in a scrapbook. From USA TODAY's "Bests and Worsts from Super Bowl XL":

Best run: Willie Parker rushed for just 11 yards in the first half, but the Steelers running back blasted through a huge hole for a Super Bowl-record 75-yard touchdown run on his second carry of the second half. All-pro left guard Alan Faneca sprung Parker by pulling to his right and swallowing linebacker LeRoy Hill to open the lane.

Actually, that's a little unfair to Hill. He was the game's leading tackler with 8 stops, and he had a great season.

* Recruiting never ends: The State looks ahead to the next crop of top prep football players. Zzzzzzzzz.

Recruiting: Five-star guys don't always become famous

ESPN's Ivan Maisel reminds us that all the hoopla surrounding recruiting can't obscure the fact that great players often escape the glare of the Tom Lemmings of the world. He specifically cites former Clemson running back Terry Allen, who was not a highly sought player in high school. Yet Allen ended up becoming one of the school's all-time leading rushers and had a long career in the NFL.

Clemson football coaches get raises

Well, they certainly deserve it. Read all about it here.

Surgery for West: Memphis football coach Tommy West, who was head coach at Clemson from 1993 to 1998, had triple-bypass surgery Friday. I wish West the best and hope he has a speedy recover.

* Recalling a shameful time: Here's an interesting article on the first black players to suit up for a game at Death Valley. The athletes played for Wake Forest, and they took the field for a game against the Tigers in 1964.

* Still more recruiting postmortems: From the Charleston Post and Courier, here's a story, here's a report card and here's a story on how Clemson's class ranked among Internet prognosticators. Amazingly, Tigerpundit is not mentioned.

More recruiting postmortems from the media

The Greenville News' Bart Wright has a column on Clemson's 2006 rushing attack, which will feature James Davis and new signee C.J. Spiller. The Doublemint Twins are mentioned.

* Enthusiastic supporter: The Greenville News also profiles prep quarterback Willy Korn, who committed to Clemson as a junior and is such a big Tiger fan that he has met with potential recruits. Isn't that breaking some NCAA rule?

* Hill climbing: The State's Bob Spear writes about the Seattle Seahawks' Leroy Hill, a former Clemson standout. Here's another piece on Hill, from the Rocky Mountain News, and here's yet another, from the Newark Star-Ledger. (Tony Soprano's favorite newspaper!)

* ESPN's new home page: Check it out (via Heismanpundit.)

Rumor mill cranks: Is Napier CU's new tight ends coach?

Tigernet's message board is crackling with the as-yet-unverified news that Clemson has hired Billy Napier to fill the position vacated by the resignation of Jack Hines. Napier is a former quarterback at Furman who is currently working as an assistant coach at South Carolina State. A Tigernet poster says Napier's father is a longtime high school football coach in Georgia, which should really help recruiting.

Stay tuned.

* Did a Gator snub sway Spiller to CU? Maybe. According to this story, star running back C.J. Spiller decided to sign with Clemson because the University of Florida didn't offer a scholarship to his longtime friend and high school teammate, linebacker Kevin Alexander. Alexander, an all-state performer, signed with Clemson. From the story:

"I'm sure he (Spiller) based his decision on Kevin's decision," said Patricia Watkins, Spiller's mother. "If Kevin had gotten an offer from Florida, no doubt about it (they both) would have been at Florida. ... I felt Florida was the better place for (C.J.). I met with the coaches, I met with the wives, I met with some of the family members. I just felt Florida was the best place for him."

So, was Alexander the bait that lured Spiller to Tigertown? We'll probably never know.

* Hill gets some love from The Network: In advance of Sunday's Super Bowl, ESPN has a feature on the Seattle Seahawks' young linebackers. Former Clemson star Leroy Hill gets a plug.

* We love Gardocki, too: Former Clemson punter Chris Gardocki, who has seemingly been in the NFL since John Facenda was voicing those classic NFL films, will be kicking for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Sunday's big game. Here's a nice Q&A with Gardocki from his hometown paper, the Island Packet of Hilton Head.

New recruits will arrive; assistant coach will depart

Wednesday was a hectic day for Clemson football fans, and the news was overwhelmingly good.

First and foremost, the Tigers closed the books on one of their finest recruiting years ever. In addition to getting top running back C.J. Spiller, Clemson also signed several other blue-chip prospects. CU Sporting News has as good a take as any I've seen in the blogosphere. Another blog, College Football Resource, cites Rivals.com's rankings, which have Clemson's class at No. 15 in the nation. SI.com ranks us No. 21, as does USA Today.

Here's the list of guys we signed:

1. Alexander, Kevin, LB, 6-3, 215, Lake Butler, Fla. (Union County HS)
2. Butler, Crezdon, DB, 6-0, 180, Asheville, N.C. (Asheville)
3. Campbell, Jeremy, LB, 6-2, 215, Port Orange, Fla. (Spruce Creek HS)
4. Cox, JoJo, RB, 5-10, 210, Jeffersonville, Ga. (Twiggs County HS)
5. Cumbie, Jamie, DL, 6-7, 255, Morris, Ill. (Morris Community HS)
6. Ford, Jacoby, WR, 5-9, 175, West Palm Beach, Fla. (Fork Union Military Acad.)
7. Gaither, Darius, DB, 6-0, 195, Winnsboro (Fairfield Central HS)
8. Hairston, Chris, OL, 6-5, 270, Winston-Salem, N.C. (Carver)
9. Jackson, Kendrick, WR, 6-2, 270, Fort Lauderdale, FL (Dillard)
10. Jackson, Richard, K-P, 5-11, 185, Greer (Riverside)
11. Maxwell, Byron, DB, 6-1, 185, North Charleston (Fort Dorchester HS)
12. McDaniel, DeAndre, DB, 6-1, 190, Tallahassee, Fla. (Godby HS)
13. Medlin, Jamal, OL, 6-3, 305, Orangeburg (Orangeburg-Wilkinson HS)
14. Ogren, Jeffrey, WR, 6-3, 185, Tuscaloosa, Ala. (American Christian Acad.)
15. Palmer, Michael, TE, 6-4, 228, Lilburn, Ga. (Parkview HS)
16. Russell, Chris, DB, 6-2, 210, Nashville, Tenn. (Coffeyville JC)
17. Sapp, Ricky, DL, 6-2, 225, Bamberg (Bamberg-Earhardt HS)
18. Spiller, C.J., RB, 5-11, 190, Lake Butler, Fla. (Union County HS)
19. Wade, Michael, QB, 6-2, 187, Greer (Riverside)

More media postmortems: The State (also here, here, here, here, here and here); The Greenville News; The Charleston Post and Courier. And for a tongue-in-cheek round-up of Signing Day, there's always EDSBS.

Needless to say, Tiger Nation is buzzing. A Tigernetter said it best in a message board post:

"I've been waiting 15 years to say this: 'We're back!' "

I hope he's right.

Now, on to the other big story of the day: the resignation of tight ends coach Jack Hines.

Hines, who is coach Tommy Bowden's brother-in-law, had managed to hang around Tigertown for seven years despite apparently doing very little.

Nearly every year he was given a new coaching position (he held at least four different jobs during his tenure). Last January, Hines' salary was being "evaluated". (In other words, he didn't get a raise, and he was already the lowest-paid coach on the staff.) This past season, Hines' responsibilities also included the punt team. The Tigers finished last in the ACC in that category and 99th nationally. Clemson had five punts blocked in 2005; during Bowden's entire tenure prior to this season, CU only had seven kicks blocked.

Adding to Hines' problems was the fact that he didn't appear to be much of a recruiter. Rivals.com shows him going 0-fer this year in prospects. Tigernet launched a mini-investigation, but couldn't find many of Hines' fingerprints on the recruiting trail, either.

I'm sorry if I'm being harsh on Hines. (That's part of blogging, right?) Obviously, this is a difficult time for him. I wish the man well, and I hope he finds a job soon, but it was clear to many Clemson observers that he was out of his depth at a Division I football program.

The question is: Who replaces him?

Tigernet's message board seems to be rooting for Virginia Tech's Danny Pearman, a former Clemson player. (There has already been buzz in the Virginia media about Pearman's possible move to Tigertown.)

Whoever we hire, I hope we do it soon. Spring practice begins in just a few weeks.

In a major coup, Clemson signs running back C.J. Spiller

All the rumors appear to be true, and now they've been confirmed by Stewart Mandel. Clemson has signed the No. 8 prospect in the country. He's widely considered to be one of the best running backs out there this year. Spiller is the Tigers' highest-rated recruit since, um, Roscoe Crosby. Uh-oh.

For more updates on Signing Day, keep checking back with Tigernet and the official Clemson site.


Hit the road, Jack: Clemson assistant coach Jack Hines, who is also coach Tommy Bowden's brother in law (wink-wink, nudge-nudge), has resigned to "look for other opportunities." More on this tomorrow.

The ACC-SEC Challenge? In football?

It ... could ... WORK!!!