Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney dropped a bold statement on his team's moves in the transfer portal.
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney has never been one to use the transfer portal. In fact, between 2022 and 2025, he landed five transfer additions combined.
This year, however, Swinney dug a little deeper into the portal and bagged nine players, and it would have been 10 had Luke Ferrelli not defected.
Swinney didn't add a quarterback, and he didn't acquire any offensive linemen, so Clemson failed to address what most considered to be two critical needs.
However, the Tigers did bring in some key pieces defensively, including safeties Jerome Carter and Corey Myrick.
Swinney didn't hold back when discussing the defensive back pair while speaking to reporters recently and seems to be thrilled that Clemson was able to sign both players.
“We got our top two safeties,” Swinney said. “We went after these two guys, and we got both of them. Jerome Carter from ODU and Corey Myrick from Southern Miss. Both are juniors. These guys are long and they can run.”
Carter racked up 75 tackles and six interceptions at Old Dominion this past season. Meanwhile, Myrick finished with 92 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and a couple of picks at Southern Mississippi.
Jerome Carter. Credit: Brian Bishop-Imagn Images.“They are both all-conference players,” Swinney added. “These are really good football players. They really fit and align with who we are.”
Clemson lost its two starting safeties in Ricardo Jones (who totaled six interceptions in 2025) and Khalil Barnes to the transfer portal, and it also watched as cornerback Avieon Terrell declared for the NFL Draft.
Clearly, the Tigers needed to make some moves to plug the holes in their secondary, and they did just that.
In addition to securing Carter and Myrick, Clemson also netted cornerbacks Eliot Washington and Donovan Starr, so Swinney certainly made sure to repair his team's defensive backfield.
And as far as quarterback is concerned? Swinney seems dead set on rolling with Christopher Vizzina as the starter next year, so we will see if that works.
The Tigers went just 7-6 this past season, representing their worst finish since going 6-7 in Swinney's second year at the helm back in 2010.
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