Clemson's roster is talented and experienced...and expensive

Players like Peter Woods (11) and TJ Parker don't come cheap (Photo by Merrell Mann).

David Hood · Senior Writer · Monday, May 05 2025

The excitement for Clemson’s 2025 college football season is gaining in strength, and fans know the Tigers’ roster is talented and experienced. It’s also expensive.

Clemson is tied with Illinois for the most returning starters in the country in 2025 with 16 (17 if you count kicker Nolan Hauser), and the Tigers are fortunate that so many starters elected to remain with the program and not look elsewhere in the age of what amounts to college free agency and the transfer portal.

Clemson general manager Jordan Sorrells, on a recent “Two Right Turns” podcast with football SID Ross Taylor, said the retention of that talent shows how Clemson – from the administration to the fans – supports the program.

And it’s not a cheap endeavor.

“I think without a doubt it does (show the support). We have arguably the most experienced roster in the country coming back next year,” Sorrells said. “And it's not just experience, it's experience and it's talented, which in turn means it's expensive. Those things, when you have talent and experience, those tend to cost money. And so I give a ton of credit again to (Athletic Director) Graham (Neff) and to our board and even President (Jim) Clements, the way that they've wrapped their arms around this and have been able to adapt to a new landscape and to our fan base who has been generous.

“They've provided opportunities and then they've given us the resources that we need to go compete and ultimately retain what we believe is a championship caliber roster. We're second in the country in retention over the last five years. And so those dots are pretty easy to connect. You don't finish second in retention year over year over year without paying your guys fair market value and being able to provide opportunity to them on the financial side of things, too.”

Sorrells cautioned that the school and the fans have to continue to move into this new era.

“We've got to continue to do that. We've got to continue to invest. And our fan base, I think again, has bought into that,” he said. “And I'm extremely appreciative, especially as we went through that round of getting everybody under contract right after the season was over, I could take a few deep breaths of like, okay, hey, we're good. We have the resources that we need to be able to retain this roster. And being able to do that and return all the players that we returned with Cade Klubnik and TJ Parker and Peter Woods and Bryant Wesco and TJ Moore - the list goes on and on and on. Two-, three- and four-year starters at tackle, those guys cost money. And for us to be able to retain them and not have to go out to the portal and seek 'em all out because we've had a bunch of guys leave, that matters a ton.”

Just like in the NFL, continuity and developing from within are important.

“If you look at the NFL, there's continuity on the best teams, right? Rarely does a free agent filled team go and be successful. Maybe a year, but to be able to do that year over year is really, really hard. And so we value continuity a ton. For us to be able to have the resources to go and provide continuity to our coaching staff and to a head coach who are really, really good at what they do? They're even better when they have a roster with a lot of continuity,” Sorrells said.