Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers have landed a pretty concerning take after their work in the transfer portal.
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney finally decided to dip into the transfer portal this winter, landing nine players (and it was 10 before Luke Ferrelli re-entered the portal) compared to just five the previous four years combined.
However, with Ferrelli now departing, Clemson lost its best transfer addition, and on top of that, the Tigers didn't really do much work on their offense at all.
This was concerning for Chris Hummer of CBS Sports, who actually labeled Clemson one of the biggest losers of the portal.
"My gripe for Clemson is on the offensive side of the ball, nevertheless," Hummer wrote. "Given that Clemson's offense failed to live up to expectations (62nd nationally in yards per play) this season, you'd think the Tigers would have loaded up there. Instead, Clemson signed one player in running back Chris Johnson."
While Hummer likes the acquisition of Johnson, he feels that the Tigers missed the boat in terms of adding offensive linemen and a quarterback.
"But the fact Clemson failed to add a quarterback or a single offensive lineman this cycle could result in further regression," Hummer wrote.
Clemson Tigers quarterback Christopher Vizzina. Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.The Tigers will head into 2026 with Christopher Vizzina and Chris Denson representing the two primary options in the quarterback room, and neither is all that inspiring.
Yes, Vizzina looked pretty good in his lone start against SMU this past season, but there are a lot of questions surrounding the upcoming redshirt junior. Meanwhile, Denson is completely unproven.
There were a handful of enticing quarterbacks in the transfer portal, but Clemson chose not to pursue any of them. At least not aggressively.
Apparently, Swinney is very comfortable going into next season with Vizzina potentially under center, so maybe he sees something in the Birmingham, Al. native.
But based on the fact that the Tigers went just 7-6 this past season largely because of their pedestrian offense, you do have to wonder if Swinney has made a mistake not bringing in another signal-caller.
Clemson entered 2025 with national championship aspirations, but got off to a miserable 1-3 start and never recovered, posting its worst campaign since 2010.