Why did Clemson football miss on transfer portal recruits? Dabo explains

Clemson football signed the nation’s No. 13 recruiting class Wednesday, but there was one thing missing from the Tigers’ 22-player group.

Two weeks after he publicly stated Clemson’s intentions of adding at least one transfer portal offensive lineman, coach Dabo Swinney ended the early signing period without bringing in a single portal player.

And, based on the Tigers’ current roster numbers at offensive line and other positions, Swinney said they won’t be seeking out any more portal players unless something changes dramatically.

“We like our guys,” Swinney said.

That’s not to say Clemson didn’t make a tangible effort to bring in non-high school recruits. On the heels of an 8-4 season and third straight year missing the College Football Playoff, Clemson was active in the portal at a level it hasn’t been before in the modern era.

With new offensive line coach Matt Luke in the fold, Clemson extended scholarship offers to transfer offensive linemen Alan Herron of Division II Shorter University, Keylan Rutledge of Middle Tennessee State, Addison Nichols of Tennessee and one more player, Swinney said (that was likely Austin Blaske of Georgia).

But every portal player Clemson was linked to ended up committing elsewhere: Herron to Penn State, Rutledge to Georgia Tech, Nichols to Arkansas and Blaske to UNC.

“We were really looking at some guys that had at least three years (of eligibility),” Swinney said. “We felt like that would be a good fit for us. But as I say, they gotta choose you. You can try all you want, but they’ve gotta choose you.”

Swinney said the fact Clemson is returning seven players who’ve started games at offensive line made the Tigers’ portal search tougher. Guard Walker Parks, guard Marcus Tate, tackle Tristan Leigh, tackle Collin Sadler, tackle Blake Miller, guard Trent Howard and guard Harris Sewell are all expected to return to the team in 2024.

Because of that, Swinney said, portal recruits may have seen better circumstances or options past Clemson, where he sticks to a long-standing principle of never guaranteeing starting spots to players during the recruiting process.

“A lot of these guys are in the portal for a reason – they wanna be the guy,” Swinney said. “And I can’t guarantee anybody’s gonna be the guy. You get an opportunity to be the guy, but you’ve gotta earn it. But thankfully, it all worked out the way it was supposed to.”

Swinney went on to compliment four-star 2024 lineman Elyjah Thurmon and three-star 2024 linemen Mason Wade, both of whom committed to Clemson on early signing day out of the high school ranks amid the team’s portal struggles.

Swinney confirmed that, with those next two additions, Clemson is “right at our number” for offensive linemen on its 2024 roster and won’t look toward the portal unless something changes, such as players leaving in a future transfer portal window.

“We’ve got a really good group,” Swinney said. “A very good mix of older guys – got a big junior group, a few seniors next year and then a really good sophomore in Harris and some guys coming in to get that pipeline going along with the redshirt freshmen.”

During his early signing day news conference, Swinney also volunteered that Clemson seriously weighed a transfer portal addition at linebacker, wide receiver and defensive end.

The plan at linebacker changed once All-ACC defender Barrett Carter announced he was returning for his senior season, which prompted Clemson to take a more developmental prospect in high school linebacker CJ Kubah-Taylor.

At wide receiver, a lack of departures past Beaux Collins (who’s since committed to Notre Dame) also made Swinney confident in sticking to the Tigers’ current group, plus five-star 2024 signee Bryant Wesco Jr. and four-star signee TJ Moore.

As for defensive end, which also has a new position coach in former SEC and NFL coach Chris Rumph?

“That was a position that we looked that,” Swinney said. “We evaluated every position on our roster from a portal standpoint as a staff, and that was a position that with the guys that we have in house and what we’ve been able to see from those guys, it wasn’t a position where we wanted a portal guy.”

The Tigers had extended a handful of transfer portal offers in recent seasons since the NCAA approved a one-time waiver for every college football player to transfer once and be immediately eligible at his new school.

But Clemson’s only portal commitments since 2021 have been backup quarterbacks: Hunter Johnson of Northwestern for 2022 and Paul Tyson of Arizona State for 2023.

Swinney said a lot goes into finding a portal player who fits Clemson’s program, referencing how the team only formally offered scholarships to four transfers (all offensive linemen).

The team made a few calls to a few transfer portal players who ended up not having much interest in Clemson and also backed off a few prospects of its own.

“It’s not a lot of guys,” Swinney said. “I mean, you still have to be good enough. You still have to be the right fit. There’s a lot. Academics – amazing. You still have to be an academic fit. You’ve gotta be able to be eligible. … It waters it down.”

Swinney said Clemson will remain vigilant in the portal – but only if it needs to. After all, the current winter transfer portal window is open until Jan. 2, and there’s also a May 1-15 period in the spring when players can enter after spring practice.

“If something changes, then you have to respond to that,” Swinney said. “But you have to base it on where you are. I’m committed to the kids on this roster. And we really believe in our roster.”