The Clemson Tigers were one of the most dominant national powers just over a half-decade ago, making four National Championship Games in five years and winning two of them. Since then, however, Clemson has lost some of its luster.
The Tigers went 10-4 last season and were hammered in the first round of the College Football Playoff. They’ve lost at least three games in each of the last four campaigns, and while they appear to be on the rise heading into 2025, there are some who are skeptical of Dabo Swinney’s club.
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Take Stewart Mandel of The Athletic, for example, who wonders if Swinney’s window at Clemson has closed thanks much in part to Swinney’s lack of activity in the transfer portal over the years.
“And as those struggles mounted, many others and I criticized Dabo for stubbornly steering clear of the transfer portal,” Mandel wrote. “He relented a little this offseason, landing a couple of possible key contributors, but his lineup will still be comprised almost entirely of homegrown guys. It’d be a heck of a told-you-so to win a national title in 2025. However, my concern is depth. While the ‘X career starts’ guys get the most attention in the portal, teams also use it to build and maintain their depth.”
Swinney is far from the only coach who has attempted to stick to an old-school approach, but the problem is that that doesn’t necessarily work anymore. At least not if you try to use it rather exclusively.
Clemson has been outstanding at recruiting for quite some time now, but so have plenty of other top schools in the country. The difference is that the Ohio States, Alabamas and Oregons of the world have also strongly utilized the portal.
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Perhaps Swinney will start getting more with the times now, but there is no doubt that his slowness to adapt in recent years has hurt the Tigers.
Clemson is ranked fourth in the AP top-25 poll going into the new college football season, so to be fair, Swinney has done a fine job putting this current roster together. But will it be enough? We are about to find out.
The Tigers will open their season at home against No. 9 LSU on Aug. 30.
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