Dabo Swinney discusses Transfer Portal | Clemson Tigers' Strategy on Roster Management, Recruiting

this year there were four FBS teams that did not take a single transfer Army Air Force Navy and Clemson now only one of those does not require a congressional recommendation to go to school there that would be Clemson so here is Dabo explaining the lack of transfer portal use there's three types of players in the portal I mean it's really pretty simple most of the guys in the portal aren't good enough to play for us yeah yeah that's just that's just the reality I mean we have guys that that are backups at Clemson that go in the portal because they just want to have an opport and most of them are graduates by the way but but we have guys that are backups or you know they want a chance to go play and I got no problem with that um and so we rarely do we have a starter leave Clemson uh so you know you that's you've got the majority of the guys they're guys that are in the portal cuz they want to have a chance to go start somewhere they're not playing where they are they're they're not they're not good enough to come in and play for us um and so we we'd rather take a a good high school player as long as we can get them uh which we do and and you develop them uh that's the first type the second type of guy that goes in the portal is he's only going in the portal as a formality because the deal's already been done MH he knows where he's going before he ever goes in the in the portal so we're not getting that guy and then the third type of guys going in the portal just to see what he can get and we're never going to win that war so um you know we we've we've been really fortunate uh because first of all we we're established been there 16 years and we don't have a lot of um attrition I mean we had 127 guys go through Spring ball and 125 are still on the roster you know after spring post portal uh closing so uh that's that's that's a miracle in today's world so when he says that's not a a battle we're going to win because that's who we're talking about we're not talking about like Clemson isn't going to the transfer portal to to build death they've got death they're going to the transfer portal if they do it to get a spot player to fill in where they have an immediate need and that's that's the question like the Keon Coleman going to Florida State after spring last year like Keon Coleman is that type of player that we're talking about or someone someone who can come in and fill like Caleb DS going to Ohio State this year from Alabama it would have to be somebody better than your current players or as good as your current you know your best current players and what he's saying there's there's two ways to interpret this I would think Dukes like and they're both financially related Clemson's Collective doesn't have the money to make a competitive offer to that type of player that's one one way of looking at it I think the more accurate way is probably they have some money but not so much that they could make a competitive offer and it wouldn't upset the pay scale of all the guys that they had retained yeah I think that's probably the the bigger issue like they paid to retain guys but they're not paying so much that they can really go break the bank on a transfer yeah and I think for the way that uh dbo kind of handles his room it's not a lot Upfront for guys who are unproven but the promise is come in do what you got to do you'll get an opportunity to play you do well I guarantee you we're GNA get you like you'll be okay but if you bring in one of those million dollar guys or $800,000 guys what does that say to the guys that you told to wait your turn when the money your spot that you were developing for and you played a little bit now that goes to Caleb Downs well that upsets your locker room so I think in order to keep the culture there the way they have it I'm not sure if Clemson has to they they they can be a transfer portal player because of the way they teach it and the way they kind of set their culture I just don't know it it it it doesn't marry up to what dbo has kind of built and and go ahead Andy oh say the problem is and you're right you're exactly right that is the that is what the issue is it doesn't marry up because it it kind of goes against what he's told all these guys that are already there but here's the problem you can't compete at the level they want to compete at without getting those types of transfers you saw what Ohio state did like Ohio state had good running backs they got quinan Judkins Ohio state had highly recruited safeties they got Caleb DS like they are trying to win a national champ chionship Georgia had highly recruited receivers last year they got Dominic love and raah ra Thomas like they're going to do that Texas went and got Isaiah Bond and Amari IAC from Alabama like they they want to win national championships and they're not particularly worried about people's feelings now what what we're talking about though we are talking about money and like the thing is Texas can pay Isaiah Bond and Amari nblack because Kelvin Banks is getting Bank like Kelvin Banks is being taken care of that's their left tackle he's probably the most important player to retain on this team and they retained him but he's probably making so much that when they go get Isaiah Bond at a market value price it's not going to bother him right yeah I and this is the other thing Davos been he just said what he say 16 17 years yeah he's probably one of the safest coaches when it comes to job security in all of college football he's already delivered national championships so he doesn't have the same I don't think that he has the same amount of pressure on him as oryan day does where you can have to say where you can say we got to go get Caleb DS and we got to go get quinine jins and if the guy who was supposed to be next transfers so be it if the guys who we had developing have to transfer so be it do I think that it's a championship form fora in today's day and age absolutely not I don't think it's that type of formula but what I will say is it works for davo and by the time things change as we alluded to earlier I let you get to that point by the time things change it it may shift back in his favor yeah and that's the thing I like I hadn't thought about this until I was watching that clip last night and then I'm like wait there's a path for Dabo to get right back in this thing cuz we've always assumed oh he's not willing to do it but if it is truly a money thing if it's either they can't afford those guys or they can't afford to retain and pay those guys without messing stuff up if it's just money well they're going to be able to pay from the school very soon when they settle that house versus the NCAA case they're going to be able to pay from the schools the schools will be sharing Revenue all of a sudden Clemson's back in this thing baby because they will be be able to afford that type of transfer and if that's the case watch out because they already do have a lot of really good homegrown players like they got a nasty homegrown D line and they're always going to have a nasty homegrown D line and I'll buy and now if you can add like where where do they need help usually offensive line receiver if you can drop in that one offensive lineman or that one receiver that you need all of a sudden everything gets easier for you and they'll be one of the few teams that have a consistent culture so and I think this and let's just let's just get crazy here in a time where and one so this kind of reminds me of when one and dun came back in college basketball and you saw all of these teams where the recruiting got so hot and heavy you knew you were only goingon to get them for a year and J and Jaylen Brunson and villain Nova and that team that they built were able to win the NCAA Championship without the one and done type guys that had stayed and been there because they were the best overall team we saw eventually in college basketball guys who had stayed and been together were the teams that became most successful then you saw more parody and these these kind of I don't want to say put thrown together teams but the ones who had the best recruiting classes and like the Dukes when they had Zion and they had cam reddish and all these guys RJ bar yeah they didn't play as well when it came when it got the crunch time so now that you open up the playoff maybe Clemson could become a dark horse if they get there because they have a team that's been together for multiple years that are used to the culture and who don't have guys coming in that kind of upset that locker room because everybody kind of knows what everybody is getting and I think that's I I think that maybe that B's in Dao's favor who knows maybe because here's the thing they're still good enough to make the playoff right now like they they might be good enough to win the ACC this year they they're certainly going to be competitive in the ACC this year and if they go 10- two there's a good chance they're in the playoffs so we we'll we'll probably be able to test your theory which which I love and you're right about the basketball thing like I I've covered that that villain overa team when it won the national title and now they were playing Michigan and John beine was was kind of doing some of the same stuff but you're right all of those oneand none type teams have just sort of Fallen by the wayside the the only really good oneandone teams like Carmelo at Syracuse and that was before the the one andone rule the the age limit actually happened and then you had the Anthony Davis Michael kid gilchris your guy Marcus Teague you're you're an honorary Teague cousin now um that team at Kentucky so that's the that is it's true like having guys that come up together that know how to play well and I think I think that's also why in college football you you know you saw ston Bennett lead Georgia to two national titles as a quarterback like you you still don't have to have like super Elite first-rounder to win a National Title like you can't win a Super Bowl without the super Elite quarterback but in college football if you got enough Talent around and a good culture you can win yeah that team had a quarterback on defense I don't know if you're remember niobe Dean this where he grab he was Elite in in every way yeah yeah noobe grabs Nintendo by the face mask it says get over here or I don't know if the face maskk or the collar but he grabbed them y on defense tells him to get here and then the next play he goes out and gets a sack I mean those I I think college football has so much more of that than any other sport just because the guy next to you impacts what you have to do and they're at an age where if you can create young leaders it goes a lot further than it happens in the NFL because in the NFL all of these guys were the guy but on the college level I think that when you can create leaders in Pockets I think it has much more of an impact than any other sport so Matt long in the chat says I don't think dbo understands the definition of attraction or who to Major this new age of colar or how this this new age of roster management works Clemson football has digressed they have digressed they have digressed they don't have the freak receivers they used to have they haven't had one of those guys since T Higgins left like think about the Run of receivers they had and it could be the highly recruited guy like Sammy Watkins new Hopkins it can be the under the radar guys that they develop like Adam humph or Hunter Renfro T Higgins andari Rogers like this these were all studs at receiver they have not been able to hit on those now maybe that's Jeff Scott leaving to become U usf's head coach and Jeff's Jeff's around now because he's not at USF anymore but uh and I believe he's still he's living back up in Clemson so you know there's there's possibility that that that all happens again but they've got to get that part straight and whether that's out of the portal or out of high school and you develop them you you you have to have Dynamic receivers again and for whatever reason they can't seem to make them anymore so that part has to be figured out everybody always needs help on the offensive line except maybe one or two teams like LSU this year Georgia this year maybe they don't but everybody usually could could use one more good offensive lineman so if Clemson could just find a way to add I'm just saying like two or three a year I'm not saying whale two or three a year some PE like people that you can vet who would fit into your culture who are just really good players Clemson is back in National Title contention if they won't do that or can't do that they will never get back man absolutely and then one one of my biggest the has always been the decline of Auburn and the rise of Clemson kind of coincided um and a lot of times those battles between Columbus or Central Phoenix City all the way back across uh uh East Georgia when Clemson won those battles then that these guys who didn't go to Georgia it was usually down to Auburn and Clemson when Clemson won those battles they were better uh case in point Central Phoenix City had a pipeline of Clemson at one time and they used to always go to Auburn and Auburn fans were livid because how do you let these guys get out of state uh Justin Ross a couple of years ago out of Central Phoenix city was one of those Dynamic receivers before his injury he was on a on a humongous Pace to destroyed Alabama in the national title game destroyed them yeah absolutely well this year Justin Ross went to Auburn in cam Coleman Central Phoenix City same guy Clemson used to get those guys like they still got pet Woods like they they were getting guys out of Alabama Hugh freeze and I and I'm not being a homer at all I'm just say I'm just keep keeping it the book it's true this is this is very true the the keeping these guys in Alabama and Georgia's dominance and Georgia and going back into Georgia a lot of times like in here in Atlanta they always talk about Georgia doesn't recruit Atlanta well now they are they're going to get the kids from the metro area and these are kids who used to go to Clemson like the shine what they like the biggest thing is Georgia didn't want Deshawn Watson and you know and he wanted to go to alurn and Clemson ended up with him well what did that do for Clemson Georg is not letting these top guys get out of state as much as they used to and I think that has a big thing to do when it comes to where clemon digress and why to your point the transfer portal is going to be important for them to fill in these spots yeah and that's so they I think when the schools can pay it I think Clemson's back because I think yeah they'll have similar amounts of you just have to divert the money from somewhere else thank you so much for watching just a reminder subscribe to this channel right here so you never miss an episode of Andy Staples on 3 and oh by 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