Anonymous ACC coach thought Clemson's 'best days are behind them,' but not now

Dabo Swinney and his Clemson program have a big season ahead to prove some doubters wrong.

Brandon Rink · Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer · Friday, May 23 2025

At least one ACC coach thought they might just have Clemson, but that's not the tune being sung going into the 2025 college football season.

Athlon released its annual anonymous coach reports from the ACC, which produced a few quotable Clemson outlooks.

One coach says that upon reviewing the game video, Clemson looked to have declined, and the advent of the transfer portal and NIL might be shifting the winds against it. They're in the camp with several folks now that Clemson is on the upswing, but still, there's something to prove.

"This is the year we find out if Dabo [Swinney] and his culture can survive in the new era of this game," said one ACC coach, according to Athlon. "Two years ago, we put on the tape, and it felt like, wow, their best days are behind them because of the shift in personnel and the stance against NIL. You saw it right away, especially at position groups like receiver where they used to dominate. Now they’re getting better; you’re seeing more talent than the last couple years."

Of course, that's a past perception on NIL and Clemson, and one that Swinney would certainly dispute, though there are elements of Clemson not wading into bidding wars in the portal and for some freshman talents.

A couple more anonymous reports centered on Cade Klubnik:

"How good is Cade [Klubnik], really? His ceiling defines their limit as a program. You should see a big jump as [Garrett] Riley’s playbook expands with him."

"They’re playing the game in NIL now, but they need a big season from the quarterback to be the old Clemson that charges through the league."

After going from 13-1 to 2-10, Florida State was a punching bag for the piece:

"There’s a significant disconnect in the talent at this program. On paper, in the rankings, they’re doing great. But a lot of their rivals feel like they’re not recruiting at a truly elite level, and the guys they get aren’t developing."

"It fell apart faster than I’ve ever seen. They were really early adopters to the portal, and that ‘23 team was an absolute nightmare to scheme against. You had the combination of in-house, development guys from Florida high schools and transfers. They started missing in both categories after that."

Clemson will get a look in early October at what Bill Belichick is doing at UNC:

"They’ve been vocal about criticizing other programs on how they spend and evaluate. There’s talk about how they’re going to become an advanced, pro-level scouting program that implements NIL better. We’ll see. We do expect a better overall haul from these guys in high school recruiting than from Mack [Brown], at least until the novelty wears off or Bill gets a bad reputation."

Former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott took some shots for his coaching job at Virginia:

"This is a team you never really worry about playing. They lack discipline, and they have no real identity. The parity in this league is increasing, and it will be really hard for this program to make a sharp turn up."

"These guys are in trouble, and most everyone expects there to be a staff change at the end of the season or earlier."