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Associated Press

Clemson head coach Jack Leggett looks on as his players take the field for an NCAA regional game against Tennessee Tech on May 31 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson. Leggett is awaiting word, and could be until Aug. 17, on which of the team’s five underclassmen and three signees that were drafted in this week’s Major League Baseball amateur draft will be on campus next season.

CLEMSON — For a college baseball program, having multiple underclassmen and incoming freshmen worthy of being selected in the Major League Baseball draft is a good problem to have.

Obviously, it means you’re attracting top-notch talent to your school.

That doesn’t make it any less problematic, however.

Clemson had five underclassmen and three signees selected in this week’s draft, and for Tigers head coach Jack Leggett, that means possibly waiting more than two months — the deadline for players to sign a pro contract is Aug. 17 — before he knows exactly what his roster will look like next season.

“It’s all yet to be determined,” Leggett said on Thursday. “We, college coaches and college programs, are in a very vulnerable position.

“We have our scholarships out there … and there’s not much flexibility, but yet the pro teams can watch these kids pitch and play all summer and make decisions right up until August 17 this year, which is just a few days before school starts.”

The NCAA mandates that only 27 players on a given team can be on scholarship, with each of those required to receive at least 33 percent of a full scholarship.

For coaches, that means trying to strike a fine balance between recruiting the best high-school talent, while at the same time going after players that will actually make it to campus.

In 2008, the Tigers believed they had landed a gem when they signed Stephens Co. (Ga.) High School star Ethan Martin, who went 11-1 with a 0.99 ERA during his senior season and was named the Gatorade Georgia State High School Player of the Year. They also knew they were making a gamble by signing him, and thus tying up one of their precious few scholarships.

Ultimately, Martin was drafted 15th overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the last year’s draft, and the Tigers were left holding the bag.

This year, three Tiger signees were drafted — Mauldin righty Madison Younginer (seventh round, Red Sox), Charlotte, N.C. infielder Richie Shaffer (25th round, Dodgers) and Buffalo Grove, Ill. pitcher Scott Firth (36th round, Orioles) — leaving Leggett anxiously awaiting their decisions.

The Clemson coach admitted the looming specter of the draft made choosing which players to recruit risky business at best.

“You’ve got to choose kids that are highly motivated to come to Clemson, that love Clemson, that want to play college baseball, whose parents want their kids to be college educated and realize the value of the college experience at this time in their lives,” he said. “And if that’s not the case, then we have to back off because you’ve got to make pretty good educated decisions about it.”

That being said, Leggett indicated that he felt pretty good about the direction each of the signees were leaning.

“I think the kids that we’ve gone after this year …all of them have their heads on right about college and the college experience and coming to Clemson,” he said.

The most difficult decision is likely the one Younginer will have to make, considering he was drafted by a team, the Red Sox, that has the financial wherewithal to make a hefty offer and also has its Class A farm team — the Greenville Drive — basically in his hometown.

“We hope that Madison can stay strong and realize what he’s got ahead of him here and realize he has a higher ceiling ahead of him beyond that, and it’s a decision he’s got to make,” Leggett said.

In addition to the three signees, the Tigers also had five underclassmen drafted that now have tough decisions to make.

Leggett indicated first baseman Ben Paulsen (third round, Rockies) would likely sign, but said he hoped the rest would ultimately choose to return to school.

Perhaps the most intriguing of those draftees is lefty Chris Dwyer, who is the first draft-eligible four-year college freshman since the draft’s inception in 1965 — because he’s already 21 years old — and could draw a seven-figure bonus from Kansas City, which set an MLB record for draft bonuses last year.

“It’s hard because it’s a tough process, the whole draft is a tough process … and he’s only been through this process to this degree one time, I think he could really benefit by seeing it again and putting himself in a position where he’s having a really good day next year on the first day,” Leggett said. “But it takes patience, confidence and hard work — all things that hopefully he has — and we’ll see what happens with him.”