When portal receiver Tristan Smith announced a commitment to Clemson on Monday, it was a move that sent shockwaves throughout the college football world.
Due to Dabo Swinney’s lack of utilizing the portal, a large majority of casual fans of the sport, along with many in the national media, thought it was something that wasn’t likely to happen.
Now, not only has it happened once, it has happened twice. And the second addition was even bigger than the first.
On Thursday, Purdue transfer DE Will Heldt committed to and signed with Clemson. His addition fills an obvious need. The Tigers rotated players in and out of the spot opposite T.J. Parker pretty much all season, never finding a the consistency they were looking for at the position.
While Smith is certainly someone that can come in help Clemson at receiver next season, Heldt is a player that already has plenty of experience at the Power-4 level. The 6-foot-6, 265-pound prospect appeared in all 24 of the Boilermakers games over his first two seasons at Purdue and as a sophomore he recorded 56 tackles, 16 QB pressures,10 tackles for loss and five sacks. He still has two years of eligibility.
So, what does all this mean? Are we seeing some massive shift in Swinney’s philosophy. Not really. Swinney will always prefer recruiting the high school ranks over the portal. The head coach is just doing exactly what he said he’d do if he had a need.
What this does mean is that Swinney isn’t as opposed to dipping into the portal as he’s been made out to be. He’s never going to rely on it to build his roster but this does show that he is willing go that route when the situation calls for it.
Let’s not forget, that after missing on several top offensive line targets in the 2024 recruiting class, the staff targeted several portal players at the position last offseason. They just failed to land any of them. You can certainly make the argument that maybe the staff should have looked at end a season ago too, but you know what they say about hindsight.
There is another thing landing Heldt says, and it’s important. Clemson has now shown it can not only land someone in the portal, it can land some of the higher-profile transfers.
Heldt was one of the top edge players in the portal and the Tigers beat out Texas A&M for him. The Aggies are a program well known for throwing out substantial NIL offers on the recruiting trail.
Winning this recruitment shows that Clemson can go out and make competitive offers. Maybe not for a bunch of portal players all at once, but for the ones the staff really wants. The Tigers aren’t likely to outbid a school like A&M in most cases, but being able to put together something that was competitive helped the school win out here.
Another popular question has been are the Tigers done? We don’t think so, although there might not be anything imminent at this time.
Clemson is getting set to play in the College Football Playoff, and while the Tigers have only seen three players leave to this point, it sounds like more attrition could be on the horizon once the season is complete. It’s also worth noting that another portal window opens for 10 days starting on April 16.
Linebacker and safety are two positions worth watching. Maybe even receiver if Clemson sees more portal defections at the position after the season.
No matter what happens the rest of the way, there is no denying that these two moves made by Swinney has strengthened his roster. Next year’s Clemson team will be better due to these two moves.
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