3 Biggest Recruiting Busts in Recent Clemson Football History

Since taking over the program in 2009, Dabo Swinney has taken the Tigers to unprecedented levels of success. The Tigers have won two of the last five national championships and are expected to be in the hunt once again behind the play of star quarterback Trevor Lawrence next campaign. While Clemson has been reeling in tons of five-star recruits recently, no program is immune to busts. Surely, fans remember these three in particular.

3. QB Willy Korn

Korn was a top five dual-threat quarterback coming out of high school in 2007 and came in to Clemson with monster expectations. Korn sat behind starter Cullen Harper his freshman year. The following season, Korn suffered a shoulder injury against Georgia Tech. He never fully recovered and was beat out by Kyle Parker in 2009. Korn ended up transferring to Marshall and then to North Greenville. he finished his career at Clemson with just 406 yards passing and three touchdowns.

2. QB Chad Kelly

Chad Kelly came in as a four-star recruit ready to battle for the starting job once Tajh Boyd's career was over. Kelly redshirted his first year, played sparingly in his second, and then was kicked off the team in his third. Not only did Kelly not produce at Clemson, he represented the program very poorly. The Tigers ended up being all right however, as Deshaun Watson took over in Boyd's absence.

1. WR Demarre Kitt

Kitt was a highly-recruited 4-star prospect coming out of high school in 2014. Unfortunately, his production ended there. Kitt went on to play in nine games as a freshman catching just five passes for 47 yards before leaving school. He would then bounce around to several JUCO's. Kitt was a talented young receiver who simply never lived up to the hype.