Clemson's player evaluation and development sets it apart as college football changes

Clemson is in a unique position to keep doing what it’s doing in evaluation and development while still remaining successful.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Monday, April 21 2025

College football appears to change daily, with schools dismissing players over contract disputes, something unheard of a decade ago, but Clemson is in a unique position to keep doing what it’s doing in evaluation and development while still remaining successful.

In a recent Two Right Turns podcast, Clemson GM Jordan Sorrells touched on the changes in the sport and how many schools are reeling from the impacts of paying players while still dealing with the ever-changing landscape (with more changes on the way).

At Clemson under head coach Dabo Swinney, it’s always been about evaluation and development, and will remain that way with Kevin Kelly's addition, the new Director of Player Evaluation and Acquisition.

“I think evaluation becomes so critical. Evaluation and development, I don't think, have ever been more important in college football,” Sorrells said. “And luckily for us, those are the two things that I think we've done really, really well for a long period of time. And so that's why I'm so excited to have Kevin (Kelly) on board, because I think he's just brought an added element for us of veteran leadership, veteran presence, but he knows what he's doing and he's done this for a long, long time.”

Sorrells says it’s challenging to keep up with what seem like daily rule changes, but Clemson is equipped to help the players maximize their opportunities.

“Ultimately, it's been a real positive here for our guys. One, because I do think we're uniquely equipped because of how we focused on the development of our players,” Sorrells said. “We're really equipped to be able to help them maximize the opportunities financially. But I think taking these opportunities and the financial gain that they're currently benefiting from and really being able to maximize that for the long-term, that's always been a priority for us in everything that we've done. And so we've just sort of added the financial piece on top of that. So that's been pretty cool.

“But we've got a really healthy collective. And the collective has really been a huge part of what we've done. The team there and what they've done and how they've been able to come alongside us and really help us create and sustain a successful organization and NIL operation, that's been critical. The NIL piece and what we've been operating in for the last few years is really built upon commercial opportunities. It's built upon guys really endorsing products or endorsing companies, that type of thing, in conjunction with collectives. And collectives have served a pretty unique purpose in college athletics. And ours has been no different, and we've been successful there. And for the foreseeable future at least, we're going to continue to operate with a healthy collective.”

The NCAA House settlement final approval hearing was held earlier this month. While Judge Wilken granted preliminary approval in October 2024, the final decision on the settlement, which would allow schools to directly pay athletes for their name, image, and likeness (NIL) and provide backpay to eligible athletes, is still pending. The settlement could have a significant impact on college sports, potentially changing the way athletes are compensated.

“We'll see how some of that plays out here over the next few months and years as the House case gets settled and some of the settlement items get agreed upon and actually implemented,” Sorrells said. “We'll see where that lands. And then you add in the revenue share piece, which to me, I think we're really, really excited about. I give Graham Neff a ton of credit and our board a ton of credit for the way that they've approached this. They've approached it in a really thoughtful way. They've approached it with some patience. It has been frustrating at times, but I think standing where we are today with the operation that we have, the philosophy that we have and the patience that we've had in the process, I think we're really well positioned for a lot of success in the future.”