Clemson Tigers Fall in ESPN's New 2026 Recruiting Rankings

Nevertheless, it's still a huge miss for Clemson as another one of the reasons they fell in the recent rankings is their lack of a five-star player, of which every team above them has at least one, aside from Florida and North Carolina. 

One of the most surprising misses for Clemson came in the beginning of July as Bryce Perry-Wright committed to Texas A&M. The five-star, 250-pound defensive lineman visited the Tigers seven times – the most among competitors – with the first time being in October of 2022. He also received a crystal ball prediction from 247Sports Clemson Insider, Austin Hannon, making the decision even more staggering. 

Aside from the top schools ranked, the major competitors for Clemson in this recruiting class – and in general – seem to be a fair amount of SEC schools, including but not limited to Texas, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas A&M. This isn't too surprising as the Tigers love to recruit in overlapping areas of SEC programs.

Despite high-profile losses over the summer, Clemson's 2026 recruiting class still has an opportunity to rebound with late-cycle commits. However, the pool of remaining talent is minimal. 

But even with the recruiting misses and a thinner pool of talent, there's a silver lining for the Tigers: Offensive line coach Matt Luke has already made a strong mark in his first year on the recruiting trail. 

Luke sits at the No. 10 spot regarding recruiter rankings for College Football, according to 247Sports, with six offensive line commits.

These commits include top-80 recruit Leo Delaney, four-star Chancellor Barclay, four-star Carter Scruggs, four-star Adam Guthrie, four-star Grant Wise and three-star Braden Wilmes.

Delaney and Scruggs are the two highest-rated Clemson commits of this summer, which says a lot about the work Luke has put into this program over the past year or so. 

Given the current college football landscape, the Tigers' coaching staff may need to adjust their strategy to stay atop the mountain, focusing on late-cycle check-ins, potential flips and leveraging their development reputation – as a man and player – to attract prospects. 

While the class may not reach the heights initially anticipated in the early cycle, it's certainly an improvement over last year's class, which ranked No. 37 and had seven decommits. 

As the 2026 cycle comes to a close, a strong start to the season and finish in recruiting could still bolster the Tigers' roster for the future.

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