Clemson has taken in zero transfers in this offseason, is that really the best move for the Tigers?
“We like our guys,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said regarding the addition of transfers. In today’s vast and maelstrom of NIL and the transfer portal, nearly every team has embraced the influx of transfers readily available. In fact, the game has shifted to accommodate the transfer portal rather than simply accepting it. Prior to the introduction of NIL and what has essentially led to the end of the amateurism claim that the NCAA makes for their sports– Swinney stated a simple fact, he might quit if players got paid.
As lawsuit after another emerges against the NCAA and a rule after another goes into effect– Swinney is still the commander of the Clemson Tigers, just in his own way. Out of 134 FBS teams, only four have had zero pickups in the transfer portal. Air Force, Army, Navy, and you guessed it– Clemson. The Tigers have opted for more of an isolationist policy as connections and branches between players and teams become much more nationalized. Where most teams opt for 20 to 25 good transfer pickups for depth, to fill holes in rosters, or just to experiment with, Swinney and the Tigers picked up none.
“It wasn’t necessarily an intentional thing,” Swinney said of not adding any transfers. “There were a couple guys we looked at. But they’ve gotta love you too.”
Swinney just has chosen to do it his way. The old-school way. One where the Clemson Tigers have picked up lashes and have had the dogs sicced on them for their seemingly conservative approach to the new-generation of football. The fact of the matter is, Swinney doesn’t believe that the portal truly leads to any great success. Opting for external talent in his eyes puts a bad reputation on himself through the lenses of his players. His argument comes from a good place.
The 52-year-old head coach has repeated that he values the players who stick at Clemson all four years. The ones that originally committed to the program, worked their way up the ladder, and have shown a growingly sparse and valuable sense of loyalty to the Tigers. His focus is on development– for player archetypes to be built his way and to be beneficial to the program. A mold that will eventually fit in to become a brick to build a perfect house in Clemson, South Carolina.
Transfers usually have their own unique identity– which for some teams works well with a microdose, but in Swinney’s opinion– not for Clemson.
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“There are a lot of storms around college football right now, but we’re kind of anchored, and it’s not that we’re not affected, but we don’t just get washed out to sea and swim for our lives,” Swinney told CBS Sports. “We’re very fortunate because we’ve been established, and we’ve been so consistent for a long, long time. We’re still about the same things that we were 16 years ago.”
Voluntarily choosing to get left in the dust in a generation of exponential results is a choice in and of itself– but the on-field product must emulate that same decision or Swinney is in for a lot of bad press. Which he has subsequently gotten. From 2015 to 2019 the Clemson Tigers went 65-9. Since the seismic changes in NCAA regulations such as the advent of the transfer portal and the introduction of name, image, and likeness laws, the Tigers have seen a sharp drop-off in wins– going only 30-10 over that span. For the past three years, the team has suffered at least three losses in each season. Compare that with the three years prior to that stretch where the Tigers only lost three games total.
“We’ve been very consistent, even the last three years,” Swinney told CBS Sports. “There’s a perception, a narrative that gets drummed up that we stink, that we’re no good because we haven’t made a Final Four. We made it six years in a row. It’s hard, you know? You gotta have a little luck along the way, and we’ve had some tough breaks, but in that three-year span, we won 30 games.”
Critics are quick to point out Clemson’s fallback as proof that Swinny’s pugnacious mentality and support of in-house talent is an agenda of the past. But one could point out that the issue is pretty simple when it comes to the Tigers. Their quarterback play.
Clemson’s quarterbacks have been everything but the real deal the past couple of years. After their last “great” quarterback– Trevor Lawrence, the Tigers have had a duo of passers that fell short of expectations. DJ Uiagalelei had a short stint in Death Valley before leaving to Corvallis to play for Oregon State then reappearing in the ACC when he transferred to Florida State earlier this year.
Now, the Tigers have invested the full strength of their coffers to their five-star quarterback Cade Klubnik who struggled mightily this past season. Klubnik’s performance– tied to the bigger picture of Clemson not having a serviceable quarterback begs the question is it truly the transfer portal leaving the Tigers in the dust or is it the lack of a decent signal-caller?
“You need a little luck along the way, but this is a team the last two years has been close,” Swinney said. “Last year, we were eighth in the country in defense, but we were 112th in turnovers on offense (tied for 108th with 22) and it really cost us. It cost us losing double-overtime, overtime, and on a pick six. You know, we lost a game, that in the 128 years of Clemson football history, when we rush for 250 (yards) and pass for 250 and got beat, that never happened ever. We did a really poor job of taking advantage of some opportunities and taking care of the ball in critical situations, and it cost us, but we recovered, we finished well. We’ve got to improve. The year before, we’re in the playoff and we have a one-point loss at home [against South Carolina] with two turnovers in the fourth quarter.”
Swinney’s not wrong. Even without the transfer portal, Clemson’s pieces are all there. They have a solid defense, Swinney hasn’t lost his touch as a recruiter– ranking 11th on 247Sports’ recruiting class rankings, and Swinney’s staff signed two five-star freshman receivers– T.J. Moore and Bryant Wesco Jr.
If you were to blame his reluctance to use the transfer portal, you wouldn’t be wrong, but blaming that for all of Clemson’s recent shortfalls would be missing context and fully missing the point. Swinney might be overzealous in trusting himself, his staff, and his recruits. Transfers aren’t meant to be replacements for a true recruiting class– just ask Colorado. Instead, they’re meant to fill in the loose gaps and cracks that can’t be achieved from a traditional high school class.
Whether or not that’s true will be tested this season. While the term hot seat might not be applicable to Swinney just yet, the needle inches closer every minute.
“Every player is technically a transfer,” Swinney told SiriusXM Radio recently. “We just signed a whole class of guys transferring from high school.”
