Monday was the deadline to declare for the NFL draft. Everyone expected that Clemson would lose three of their four defensive linemen to the draft. (The other is only a sophomore.). Instead all three are coming back.

To say this is rare is an understatement. It’s not unusual for sought after players to come back for their senior year, but typically the higher the projected draft pick, the lesser the chances the player returns. Also typically a player or two may come back for reasons unique to him. To have this many come back is unusual.

It has to be that Dabo is a good salesman, right? He is good at recruiting high school kids. Clearly that talent translates to recruiting college juniors. The question is, what did he sell them on? Was it loyalty to school? Loyalty to teammates? Unfinished business? The players had been to 3 playoffs and won one. Was it something different for each of them? I don’t know. It certainly is interesting though.