DANIA BEACH, Fla. – Dabo Swinney can change his approach at any time. As Clemson’s head coach, he reserves that right.

In fact, if it was 2009 instead of 2022, Swinney acknowledged his program would be a much more active player in the transfer portal because, in all likelihood, it would be necessary.

“If I was just named the head coach at Clemson, half the guys would leave. And a lot of the fans would’ve gone in the portal, too,” Swinney quipped. “That’s just the reality.”

Yet that’s not the reality of Clemson’s current state under the direction of Swinney, who will cap his 14th season as the Tigers’ full-time head coach Friday when he leads No. 7 Clemson into its Orange Bowl matchup with No. 6 Tennessee at Hard Rock Stadium. At a time when some programs are constantly reaching into the portal to supplement their rosters, the Tigers have rarely done so under Swinney’s watch.

Clemson has signed just three four-year transfers since the spring of 2021 when the NCAA adopted the one-time transfer rule, granting immediate eligibility to players, graduated or not, that are transferring for the first time. All of them, including the Tigers’ most recent transfer addition, former Arizona State and Alabama quarterback Paul Tyson, have been depth pieces rather than significant contributors.

Even in the portal era, Clemson is inking some of the nation’s best recruiting classes amid its run of dominance in the ACC, which includes seven conference titles in the last eight seasons as well as six College Football Playoff appearances and a pair of national titles during that span. The Tigers’ last two signing classes, comprised almost exclusively of high school players, have both ranked in the top 10, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

“We just haven’t had to,” Swinney said Thursday when asked why he doesn’t use the portal more often. “I’ve always said we’re a developmental program, and we always have been. And constantly bringing in guys on top of guys, that changes your culture. That’s just part of it. If I was just coming to Clemson right now, half of my roster would be transfer portal. If I was just taking over a team and you’ve got to win, like, yesterday.

“It’s a different world than when I became the head coach. Very different in college football.”

That doesn’t mean Clemson hasn’t tried to land more transfers.

Given where the Tigers are as a program, a large part of Swinney’s approach to the portal has been to target specific needs on the roster rather than going after numbers. While landing experienced reserve quarterbacks the last two seasons has worked out – Clemson brought back former quarterback Hunter Johnson from Northwestern this season to fill the No. 3 spot on the depth chart – other pursuits have not.

When Clemson lost Matt Bockhorst, Hunter Rayburn and Mason Trotter at center in the spring, the Tigers went hard after a couple of top interior lineman transfers, including former Virginia All-American Olusegun Oluwatimi, who’s now starting at Michigan. Clemson whiffed on all of those targets before moving Will Putnam over from guard. The senior has started every game at center this season.

“We’ve had three or four guys that we’ve tried to recruit where it just hasn’t worked out,” Swinney said. “It wasn’t the right fit for them for whatever reason.”

Swinney also isn’t ruling out dipping into the portal again to fill holes on the roster should more pop up, which could happen at any given time amid the new recruiting calendar. Clemson has already had nine players enter the portal during the first transfer window, a period of 45 days ending Jan. 18 during which players can enter their name into the portal. A second window, this one lasting 15 days, will open May 1 when spring practice has concluded for most teams.

“This spring, we might have five guys pack up and say, ‘Hey, I’m out,’” Swinney said. “So everybody has to deal with that.”

Of those nine, only one, quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, was a regular starter. Clemson already has Uiagalelei’s heir apparent on the roster in freshman Cade Klubnik, who helped lead the Tigers to a comeback win over North Carolina in the ACC title game and will make his first career start Friday. Clemson recently added another blue-chip prospect to its quarterback room in Christopher Vizzina, a consensus top-75 recruit who will enroll next month.

For now, Swinney’s approach to the portal isn’t changing.

“Again, with where we are as a program, we just haven’t been as impacted at this point,” he said.

Dear Old Clemson has added the Tiger Sack Pack to our online store.  Save by getting the Two Pack of signed cards from two of the nation’s top defensive ends, Myles Murphy and Xavier Thomas.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. 

Dear Old Clemson is doing NIL the ‘Clemson way’, but we need your help to make sure we build a sustainable, repeatable model that will help keep Clemson competitive with the other top programs around the nation.

Dabo Swinney: “We need your assistance more than ever to provide meaningful NIL opportunities. Tiger Impact, Dear Old Clemson and other collectives allow student-athletes to utilize their voice and platform to maximize their NIL opportunities and strengthen their impact in the community.”

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