Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney has received a rather tough reality check.
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney has never been known for using the transfer portal. In fact, between 2022 and 2025, Clemson landed a grand total of five transfer additions.
This winter, however, Swinney more than doubled that number, bagging 11 players in the portal. Well, technically. That number dropped to 10 after linebacker Luke Ferrelli bolted Clemson to join Ole Miss, which caused an understandable Swinney meltdown.
But does it really matter all that much?
Manny Navarro feels that the Tigers didn't do enough in the transfer portal regardless of Ferrelli's defection.
"Clemson replaced two starting safeties who left via the portal — Ricardo Jones (Vanderbilt) and Khalil Barnes (Georgia) — with two guys from Group of 6 programs in Jerome Carter (Old Dominion) and Corey Myrick (Southern Miss)," Navarro wrote. "Then, Swinney addressed the losses on the defensive line to the NFL Draft with four players who combined to make two starts last season."
Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney. Credit: Ken Ruinard / USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK.Navarro also noted how Swinney failed to make any truly impactful additions on offense outside of running back Chris Johnson Jr.
"All those losses on offense? The Tigers signed one running back via the portal," Navarro added. "Maybe Clemson has some amazing recent high school players just waiting to blow up, but it feels like even keeping Ferrelli wouldn’t have been enough to alter Clemson’s downward trajectory."
The Tigers went just 7-6 this past season, marking their worst finish since going 6-7 in Swinney's second year at the helm in 2010. They have also finished with four or more losses three straight seasons after going 12 straight years without one.
It's painfully clear that Clemson — which made four National Championship Game appearances and won two titles between 2015 and 2019 — is not the same program it once was, and Swinney's archaic roster-building methods are a big reason for that.
Of course, it hasn't helped that the college football landscape has changed so drastically over the last several years, but Swinney has been unable to adapt.
We'll see if the Tigers are able to take any positive steps in 2026. It's certainly not going to be easy.
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