CLEMSON — It's no secret that Clemson University's football program relies on recruiting players from high schools rather than the transfer portal.
The Tigers were one of four FBS schools that failed to land a transfer in the 2024 cycle — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney targeted four offensive linemen over the winter but didn't land any — but a worrying trend has begun for the Tigers in their 2025 recruiting efforts.
Over the past six weeks, Clemson has missed out on several four-star prospects who had the school as a finalist, including wide receiver Cortez Mills, offensive lineman Hardy Watts and cornerback Gregory Xavier Thomas. The Tigers ended the team's recruiting drought on Saturday with the signing of four-star edge rusher Bryce Davis, according to 247Sports, but the team's recruitment has also gone cold for five-star recruits, including defensive lineman Elijah Griffin, offensive lineman Davis Sanders Jr. and Josh Petty.
Speaking to local media on Tuesday, Swinney was confident in his incoming recruits amid criticism over the failure of player transfers to go ahead during the name, image and likeness (NIL) era.
“Everybody thinks that players don't come to Clemson because of the NIL, but that's not the case,” Swinney said. “That's true sometimes, but it's not always the case. There are other great programs, coaches and talent out there that are a better fit for them somewhere else.”
“In terms of our acquisition, if the NIL is a factor, we probably won't get him. That's it. If that's a factor, we have as good a chance as anybody.”
According to the 247Sports Composite, Clemson's 2025 class is ranked 11th in the nation, behind one school in the ACC (Miami), six teams in the SEC and two programs in the Big Ten. It's still early in the 2025 cycle, but Clemson and Swinney will need to land some top prospects again to keep up with other teams.
In 2021, the NCAA allowed players to transfer with immediate eligibility without penalty and registered players to earn the benefit of the NIL. Since these changes, Clemson's recruiting rankings have dropped each year. The Tigers dropped from No. 5 in 2021 to No. 10 in 2022 to No. 11 in '23 and '24. Compare that to Florida State, which won the ACC last year, and the Seminoles have jumped from No. 23 in 2021 to No. 20 in '22, No. 19 in '23 and No. 12 in '24.
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FSU has also used the portal to recruit, producing a top-10 transfer student each of the past four seasons. Miami's recruits also rank higher than Clemson and the Tigers from 2023 to 2025. The Hurricanes have supplemented their high school cycle with top-10 transfer students since hiring head coach Mario Cristobal in December 2021.
“We've never had a top-tier (freshman) class, but we've done a good job evaluating, developing and retaining good talent and that's why we've won,” Swinney said. “We know we're not everyone's cup of tea, but we believe in what we do and what we've done and that speaks for itself.”
FSU and Miami have lost players to the portal but have replenished their rosters by adding transfers who have years of experience at the FBS level and can quickly learn a new team's system, while the Tigers have barely acquired any transfers, adding just two players through the portal since 2021 and losing 43 players.
Among those leaving are two-year starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, last season's starting safety Andrew Mukuva and starting wide receiver Beau Collins. The portal losses have forced the Tigers to bring in inexperienced players and freshmen to help them adjust to the college pace, while other ACC schools have veteran players at their disposal.
Clemson, a College Football Playoff regular from 2015-2020, has not played in the tournament the past three seasons since the NCAA granted immediate eligibility to all transfer players and the NIL went into effect. If the Tigers and Swinney can't land a portal player, they'll need to continue to put together strong freshman classes to stay afloat in the ACC and nationally.
The Tigers have offers for recruits such as four-star athlete Jordan Young, four-star safety Kendall Daniels Jr. and three-star wide receiver Dillon Alfred, and they need to land them to continue Swinney's philosophy of evaluating, developing and retaining.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson University sports for the Greenville News and the USA Today Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter): @DerrianCarter00
