Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers have received some pretty tough news here.
The Clemson Tigers have been pursuing five-star 2027 edge rusher Anthony Sweeney for quite some time now and made an offer to him back in October.
With Clemson falling behind in terms of adding elite talent, Dabo Swinney was certainly hoping to strike gold by bringing Sweeney into the fold, especially with the Tigers losing so many key pieces defensively.
But Clemson was hit with some bad news on Sweeney this week, as the Olney, Md. product did not even include the Tigers on his list of 12 schools he is considering.
Alabama, Georgia, Miami, LSU, Ole Miss, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas Tech were among the teams named by Hayes Fawcett of On 3, another example of Clemson losing out to the more upper echelon teams in the country.
Sweeney is the third-ranked edge rusher and the 18th-ranked player nationally, via 247 Sports' composite rankings. He is also the top-ranked player in the state of Maryland.
There used to be a time when the Tigers were one of those upper-end squads who would frequently land the top recruits. They made four National Championship Game appearances between 2015 and 2019, winning a pair of them.
Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney. Credit: David Yeazell-Imagn Images.But those days feel like eons ago.
The new NIL era — coupled with Swinney's rather archaic recruiting methods — has resulted in Clemson falling off the map as far as the genuinely elite programs are concerned.
What's more, Swinney had declined to utilize the transfer portal up until this year, when he finally landed nine players (he initially bagged 10 before linebacker Luke Ferrelli defected for Ole Miss).
At this point, you do have to wonder if the Tigers will ever get back to where they were not even a decade ago, or anywhere close to it.
It's certainly not all Swinney's fault. The NCAA landscape has completely changed, and even though Swinney has struggled — or really outright refused — to adapt, it may not have mattered all that much either way.
Clemson went just 7-6 this past season, representing its worst finish since going 6-7 in Swinney's second year at the helm in 2010.
With the Tigers losing a handful of star players to the NFL Draft and with serious questions at quarterback, things might not get too much better for Swinney and Co. in 2026.
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