Talent Tracker: Clemson’s woes include arrested (offensive) development, why we love Iowa State QB Rocco Becht

Your weekly serving of college football roster acquisition thoughts — recruiting, transfer portal, you name it — from 247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins

Clemson is not developing its top offensive recruits

If a 34-3 shellacking by Georgia isn’t going to change Dabo Swinney’s stubborn outlook on the transfer portal, then maybe the loss will open his eyes to what’s becoming more and more of an issue for Clemson: offensive player development.

Swinney made it very clear this offseason that he believes he has the players to compete for a national championship and the data backs that up as the Tigers currently hold the nation’s fifth-best roster according to the 247Sports’ Team Talent Composite. But just because Clemson looks formidable on paper doesn’t mean that the Tigers can claw (and score) with the best of the best.

Anyone who turned in over the weekend to watch Clemson in the first mega showdown of the college football season likely left with two takeaways before changing the channel in the second half and finding another game. 

• The defense has the makings of a very formidable unit
• The offense leaves a lot to be desired

When Clemson was at its best and regularly playing for national titles, the offense was full of future pros. It was a system that five-star recruits wanted to be a part of and one that constantly lit up scoreboards. But things have gotten stale on that side of the ball the last few years. 

In the loss to the Bulldogs, the Tigers produced just one play that went for over 20 yards. That comes after ranking 12th in the ACC last season in explosive plays. Gone are the days of boat-racing opponents. In are the days of low-scoring dogfights.

Subpar quarterback play could certainly be identified as the root of Clemson’s offensive problems as Cade Klubnik and DJ Uiagalelei — remember him in an orange and purple uniform? — have failed to fill the void left by Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson before him, but the former five-star signal callers aren’t the only once-heralded recruits that haven’t lived up to the hype.

Over the past five recruiting cycles, the Tigers have brought in close to 30 blue-chip offensive high school recruits. So far only one player from that group has made his way to the pros in running back Will Shipley (a fourth-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles this year) and there might not be many more that join him.

According to NFL Draft evaluators, running back Phil Mafah and tight end Jake Briningstool are the only two upperclassmen at this stage that really have a chance to be picked in the second or third rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft and their ceilings vary significantly with some scouts believing they will likely go in later rounds. That’s alarming for a program that produced 15 offensive draft picks between 2017 and 2021, including four first-round selections.

Injuries have certainly derailed some careers, but at the same time there are plenty of players that just haven’t taken the next step forward from a development standpoint. Take Tristan Leigh for example. After finally earning a role in 2023, the former five-star offensive tackle graded out as Clemson’s worst starting lineman against Georgia per the folks at Pro Football Focus. That’s after he surrendered a startling seven pressures in last year’s bowl game. Wide receiver Adam Randall has been another major disappointment with zero touchdown catches in 26 career games. He was flagged twice this past Saturday for pre-snap penalties.

Of course, maybe the high school rankings for some of these players were off base. After all, it isn’t easy trying to predict future success on the football field, but the Tigers don’t seem to be having the same troubles on defense with linebacker Barrett Carter, defensive tackle DeMonte Capehart, defensive linemen Peter Woods, cornerback Jeadyn Lukus and plenty of others all looking the part.

Clemson’s season is far from over, and there’s a chance that the Tigers could still make the College Football Playoff if Klubnik starts to figure things out, but the next time Clemson falls flat don’t just point to the lack of transfer portal additions as the reason why the Tigers have regressed because the offensive staff doesn’t appear to be getting the most out of the talent they already have.

Rocco’s modern life: Cyclones’ next star

Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht steps into the CBS spotlight this Saturday with the Cyclones taking on rival Iowa (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS). 

A former three-star prospect, Becht is a signal-caller we had plenty of exposure to throughout the recruiting process and one that we projected to eventually find some success in the Big 12. Did we think he would already have 14 starts and a ranked win under his belt? No, but Becht is a fresh reminder that intangibles matter when it comes to scouting quarterbacks.

The spring before Becht’s senior season at Zephyrhills (Fla.) Wiregrass Ranch, we not only saw Becht shine at multiple 7-on-7 tournaments with his touch and accuracy, but also tear apart a Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep defense that was anchored by five-star defensive end Keon Keeley, who is now at Alabama. 

Becht might not have been the most physically imposing passer, but he was a slick mover in the pocket who knew how to buy himself chances and feed his playmakers. He also got the ball out fast, which has translated to the college game as his average time to throw a pass (2.46 seconds) ranked second among Power Four starting quarterbacks last season according to PFF. Georgia’s Carson Beck was first.

Iowa State has lost seven of its past eight to the Hawkeyes in the Cy-Hawk series, but Becht will have a chance to play hero on Saturday.

And how about this note about Becht’s recruitment: Iowa State was the first school to really prioritize Becht and actually got him to take a self-guided tour of Ames during the global pandemic. Some thought that West Virginia where his father, former NFL tight end Anthony Becht, played would eventually emerge as the landing spot, but an offer from the Mountaineers never came to fruition.

However, a late bid from Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss did give Becht something to think about. The Rebels ended up not signing a high school quarterback in the 2022 class, instead electing to bring Jaxson Dart through the transfer portal. The Becht story reminds me of Brock Purdy, who famously chose Iowa State after a last-second pursuit from Nick Saban and Alabama.

Matt Rhule’s Nebraska rebuild based on height, weight, speed

The Dylan Raiola era is off to a promising start after a stellar debut for the rookie last week. Matt Rhule deserves a ton of credit for getting Raiola to Lincoln, but the ballyhooed quarterback isn’t the only reason to get excited about Nebraska football for the first time in a long time. 

When the Cornhuskers line it up against Colorado on Saturday night, a trained eye will notice a fast and physical team for Nebraska that Rhule has built through both the transfer portal and high school recruiting. A height/weight/speed junkie, Rhule prioritized developmental traits when he was at both Temple and Baylor and it paid off in Year 3 at both stops as he broke through with double-digit win seasons. The Cornhuskers might not get there in Rhule’s second year, but the program’s first bowl game since 2016 seems obtainable.

Nebraska — like many — might have issues trying to cover Jimmy Horn Jr. and Travis Hunter, but the Cornhuskers’ pass rush has the horses to get after Shedeur Sanders with budding sophomores Princewill Umanmielen and Cameron Lenhardt ready to spell veterans like MJ Sherman and Jimari Butler.

One another name to know heading into the matchup: Tommi Hill. The Nebraska corner is a value brand-Travis Hunter that’s getting some first-round buzz inside NFL Draft circles. He might not go both ways like Hunter, but he did have one of the more ridiculous performances I have ever seen from a high schooler years ago when he scored three different ways in a playoff game.

 Jeremiah Smith delivers on the hype

I’ll be honest, I slept pretty well Saturday night after Jeremiah Smith scored Ohio State’s first touchdown of the season, his first of two in the game. 

By now everyone knows that Smith is pretty special, but when we named the true freshman our No. 1 player in the country last October it was a bit of a gamble. After all, we had never ranked a wide receiver No. 1 overall before and it has been 28 years since a wide receiver was selected No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft.

Smith is a prospect I have fielded question after question about and a name that’s been spoken so many times in my household that my wife texted me on Saturday in excitement after she saw him give the Buckeyes an early 7-0 lead over Akron. Most people want to know what makes him different from others and the more I have thought about it, the more I think it’s just his mindset and competitive drive.

A lot of players would shrink after dropping their first career target. Not Smith. He’s a gifted athlete that wants to be the best and he’s got the resume to prove it. I mean, not many people can add 46 pounds of muscle in a little over three years and move the way he does.

Sneaky-Good Commit of the Week

WR Terrence Smith to Iowa

In case you missed it, Iowa finally has a vertical passing game! OK, that might be a little bit of an overreaction after the Hawkeyes threw for 251 and three touchdowns in a 40-0 romp of Illinois State, but it at least appears that Iowa wants to air it out a little bit more and that’s what makes the commitment of Terrence Smith all that more notable. A three-sport athlete, Smith is a 6-foot-3 wide receiver with plenty of bounce that has a knack for making plays out on the perimeter. He was a touchdown machine in the red zone for West Aurora (Ill.) as a junior and should bring some much-needed size and athleticism to the Hawkeyes’ wide receiver room. 

Currently pegged as a three-star prospect, Smith has already been marked behind the scenes as a potential rankings riser. He’s expected to be inside Kinnick Stadium on Saturday along with Iowa’s top-ranked 2025 commit, five-star defensive lineman Iose Epenesa.

ATH Matthew Outten, Penn State commit

It has been quite the week for James Franklin. After Penn State and its new-look offense bested rival West Virginia, the Nittany Lions moved up to No. 13 in the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings after flipping Portsmouth (Va.) I.C. Norcom four-star athlete Matthew Outten from Virginia Tech and beating out multiple SEC schools for Paramus Catholic (N.J.) four-star offensive lineman Malachi Goodman.

Outten isn’t a prospect who has gotten much national buzz, but he was No. 38 on my annual Freaks List:

“He might not look it off the hoof, but pound-for-pound Outten is one of the fastest prospects in the class. At the National Combine back in January, the Virginia-based star clocked the second-fastest 40-yard dash out of the 1,000 kids or so that tested, crossing the lasers at 4.58 seconds on what is traditionally a slower surface. Outten also owns the fastest 55-meter dash time and the second-fastest 60-meter dash time for any player that’s over 200 pounds in the cycle.”

Some evaluators like Outten as a second-level defender. Penn State and others like him as a wide receiver. It will be fun to see what new play-caller Andy Kotelnicki can do with his unique speed-build combo.