Mangey---OL recruiting.

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Heres a cut and paste if you havent read it. Good read

Jan 28, 2024, 6:01 PM

I was wrong though, it came out last Tuesday so I was probably the last person in the lunge to read it, so keep skimming if Germans.

Will Clemson’s decline continue? Or can Dabo Swinney get Tigers back to top of CFB?

Grace Raynor
Jan 23, 2024
114
Save Article
With 51 seconds left on the clock in October at NC State, a frenetic Dabo Swinney urged his offense to pick up the pace from the sidelines.

Clemson had just gotten a critical first down, crossing midfield. Trailing 24-17, the Tigers had a chance to tie the score or win.

As Swinney gesticulated, all but begging his team to move faster, Clemson finally snapped the ball. But the first two plays resulted in a combined loss of 9 yards, and then quarterback Cade Klubnik’s pass fell incomplete.

On fourth-and-19, Klubnik threw a pass on the move to freshman wide receiver Tyler Brown that NC State broke up. Carter-Finley Stadium erupted as NC State called victory formation. Swinney grimaced.

It wasn’t long ago when the Tigers were the kings of college football, and now they had fallen to 4-4 in late October, the program already guaranteed its most losses in a season since 2011. Including the final three games of the 2022 season, Clemson had lost six of its past 11 and was 3-6 in its past nine games against Power 5 competition, a stunning turn for a program that made six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances from 2015 through 2020. Clemson won national championships in 2016 and 2018 as Swinney, a former wide receivers coach, built an outlier brand that took over the sport. Clemson made him college football’s highest-paid coach in 2019, including a clause in his contract that would increase his buyout should he leave Clemson for Alabama, his alma mater.

“At the end of the day, it’s my responsibility. I take full responsibility for where we are right now,” Swinney said after the NC State game. “Nobody is gonna feel sorry for the Tigers.”

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Swinney and Clemson turned their season around, beating No. 15 Notre Dame and going on a five-game winning streak to close out the year. The Tigers scored 28 fourth-quarter points to beat Kentucky in the Gator Bowl. This time, Klubnik led a game-winning drive as Clemson won its ninth game of the season — the only other program along with Alabama to accomplish the feat in each of the past 13 seasons.

“At 4-4 at a place like Clemson, that creates a lot of noise, a lot of narratives, a lot of doubt, leadership challenges,” Swinney said after the win. “These guys, they chose to continue to believe.”

Dabo Swinney, left, shown in 2019, and quarterback Trevor Lawrence made the CFP in all three of Lawrence’s seasons at the school, including winning a national title in 2018. (Kevin Abele / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
As Clemson faces 2024, the Tigers have gone 30-10 in the three seasons since their last CFP appearance, after losing only three regular-season games during their six-year CFP run, and have competed in the ACC Championship Game once, beating North Carolina in 2022. Swinney, whose contract runs through 2031, continues to receive overwhelming support from Clemson’s administration. Long a proponent of hiring from within, he proved he was willing to make tough decisions when he fired offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter and hired TCU’s Garrett Riley ahead of the 2023 season. And last month, he moved on from a former teammate and former player of his on-staff.

But it has been more than two years since Swinney said in November 2021 that “there’s not a school in the country” that won’t have to recruit the transfer portal and joked that the day Clemson finally did so would be “one of the greatest days in the history of Clemson.” Swinney might have acknowledged how fans view his known dislike for the portal, but he still hasn’t used it in a meaningful way and has yet to land a starter.

When Nick Saban retired earlier this month and the Alabama job opened, at least a few fans gathered at Bryant-Denny Stadium chanted, “Anyone but Dabo.” Alabama hired Washington’s Kalen DeBoer.

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Where is Clemson headed? And is Swinney all in — and able — to take the Tigers back to the top as college football continues to change, or is Clemson stuck with its new good-but-not-great status?

“Dabo is as competitive as any human being I’ve ever been around,” said Thad Turnipseed, Swinney’s director of football recruiting and external affairs from 2013 through 2022. “I never sold the stock on Dabo Swinney, and I’m buying more stock on Dabo Swinney.

“At the same time, I have no problem saying that he’s slow to change. But that’s what made him successful. He’s always done the right thing, and he will continue. Whatever that is, in his way, he’ll get there.”

Two days after the loss to NC State, Swinney went viral.

On Swinney’s weekly call-in radio show, a fan from Spartanburg, S.C., named Tyler asked why Clemson was paying Swinney $11.5 million a year to go 4-4. Tyler went on for about three minutes before Swinney cut him off, telling him he’d “listened to enough of you.” Swinney went on a five-minute, scorched-earth tangent, telling Tyler, “I’m sure you’ve lived a perfect life” and calling him a “smart-ass kid” and “part of the problem” as the number of restless Clemson fans had grown.

Don Munson, the voice of the Tigers, hosts the radio show and was the only other person in the room. The show has no live delay, Munson said. But he never thought about cutting the line.

“Coach Swinney is a grown man. He can protect himself, and I’ve seen him protect himself and protect the program and his players and staff too many times for me to step in and cut it off,” Munson said. “I know fire when I see fire.

“People thought it was a plant. … We’re not that smart — hate to tell you. But it turned out to kind of be, I think, the perfect storm.”

Play: Video

As it turns out, that wasn’t the only time Swinney got fired up that week. That Monday in practice, after players had finished stretching and before special teams work, Swinney held court, Munson said.

“The man had his say. The man had his way,” Munson said. “(Saying), this is the way that things were gonna be done, and if you don’t like it, that’s just too bad. But this is the way that things were gonna have to be handled, and here’s what the expectations were.”

That message extended throughout the week, too.

“It was really just, ‘You’re all in or you’re all out,’” defensive end Xavier Thomas said. “Guys who want to keep fighting and want to finish the season — because, obviously, there was a lot of negativity going on out there in the world and things like that — guys who were in the building, he just challenged them to be inside-out, and if you wanted to fight and you wanted to compete, then come bring it.’”

Swinney pushed all the right buttons for the Tigers to win out. But there remain deeper issues to address, and as it has for the past three seasons, it starts with the offense.

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Though the Tigers finished No. 8 in the FBS in total defense under second-year coordinator Wes Goodwin, Riley’s unit ranked 52nd in yards per game and 98th in yards per play in his first year.

Riley was hired to replace Streeter, whom Swinney promoted from quarterbacks coach after longtime offensive coordinator Tony Elliott left to become the head coach at Virginia at the end of the 2021 season. But the Tigers’ yards per game and per play decreased slightly from 2022 to 2023. Clemson also had 22 turnovers in 2023, tied for the 16th most in the FBS.

Clemson won its national titles with now-NFL quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 pick in 2021, and built a case to be considered Wide Receiver U as it sent a wave of pass catchers to the NFL, but it hasn’t had the same success since.

During Clemson’s Playoff run, the Tigers averaged 501 yards of total offense per game and 6.62 yards per play. But from 2021 through 2023, Clemson has averaged just 390.7 yards per game and 5.34 yards per play under former quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, who entered the transfer portal after the 2022 season, and Klubnik.

Clemson WR production
WR yards after catch
6.3 (13th)
4.9 (83rd)
WR drop rate
5.4% (46th)
6.1% (96th)
WR yards per target
9.2 (26th)
7.2 (121st)
WR % of catches for 20+ yds
22.4% (34th)
15.7% (117th)
Why haven’t the Tigers been able to fix their offense? QBs such as Watson and Lawrence aren’t easy to replace, and both quarterbacks had more playmakers around them, including the ACC’s all-time leading rusher in Travis Etienne Jr. and a group of star receivers.

“Tee Higgins could right a lot of wrongs,” a program source, granted anonymity so they could speak candidly, said of the wide receiver and 2020 NFL Draft pick from Clemson. “Beaux Collins was not Tee Higgins. Joe Ngata, Frank Ladson … were not Tee Higgins.”

Ben Boulware, a former Clemson linebacker who won a title on the 2016 team, pointed to roster makeup.

“This is something that people don’t want to talk about,” he said, acknowledging he was not among Clemson’s most talented players. “But there is a massive talent discrepancy in this team compared to what we’ve had in the past.”

That might be the case, but talent accumulation isn’t the problem, at least according to recruiting rankings. The program’s two highest-ranked classes of the modern recruiting era — No. 3 in 2020 and No. 5 in 2021 — comprised, in theory, the veteran core of the past two teams. Yes, the rankings have dipped in recent cycles (the Tigers are at No. 12 in 2024 after the early signing period), but Swinney’s two national championship teams were built with classes ranked in the teens.

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Klubnik was a five-star, the nation’s top quarterback and No. 6 prospect in the Class of 2022. Uiagalelei, a five-star, was the nation’s top pro-style quarterback and No. 10 prospect in the Class of 2020. Of course, Uiagalelei didn’t have the expected success as Lawrence’s replacement, struggling with accuracy before he transferred to Oregon State and, recently, Florida State. Klubnik looked green at times this season — often relying on his speed to get him out of situations — before settling in toward the end of the year.

Clemson has continued to sign top-100 players at wide receiver. But from 2011 through 2020, the Tigers had 15 wide receivers earn All-ACC recognition. Over the past three years, they’ve had zero.

On an afternoon in August 2021, Swinney encouraged local reporters to take a picture of his wide receivers group to look back on one day. But the highly ranked recruits, including ones Clemson beat Alabama and Ohio State for, never fully delivered.

Justyn Ross quickly emerged as a star — with 1,865 receiving yards in his first two seasons — but missed his junior year due to a serious congenital spinal condition and had only 514 yards in his final season with the program. Ngata couldn’t stay healthy until his final year. Ladson, E.J. Williams, Beaux Collins and Dacari Collins have all since transferred. Troy Stellato, hampered by injuries, didn’t get going until this season. The Tigers haven’t had a receiver drafted since Amari Rodgers and Cornell Powell in 2021.

Troy Stellato had 321 yards and a touchdown in 2023. (Ken Ruinard / USA Today)
Might a couple of transfer portal additions, particularly at wide receiver or along the offensive line, have given the Tigers the spark they were missing? Florida State has ascended to the top of the league in part because of transfers at key positions. The Tigers had just four transfers on the 2023 roster, none of whom played significant snaps.

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Veteran coaches on Clemson’s staff, most notably former defensive coordinator Brent Venables, advocated for Swinney to use the portal more, according to the program source.

“In a healthy culture in a healthy building, you don’t have a bunch of yes men. You want people to push back,” the program source said, adding that Clemson always emerged from the meetings with a united front. “The longer that coach had been in the building or the more experience he had, the more pushback they would give. … But he wasn’t gonna undermine coach Swinney.”

Former Clemson offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain, an ACC Network analyst, likened not using the transfer portal to an NFL team not using free agency.

“How competitive of a man he is, and the things that he loves to do and loves to just win and dominate everything, it is interesting to me that he hasn’t wanted to dominate the portal,” Mac Lain said of Swinney.

The coach has said part of his resistance to the portal is an attempt to protect the program’s culture.

Swinney wants to develop high school players and proved he had a knack for evaluation when zero-star wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and three-star linebacker Isaiah Simmons became national champions and draft picks. He won’t kick players off the team if they don’t pan out, Mac Lain said.

“It’s hard to only rely upon 18- and 17-year-old kids, thinking they can compete with 22-year-old superstars,” Mac Lain said. “His greatest strength in my eyes can also be a weakness, and that’s his loyalty and his love for the people he brought in.”

When Turnipseed left Clemson to follow Venables to Oklahoma, he noticed the impact when the Sooners brought in double-digit transfers in Venables’ inaugural year.

“Those were great guys that we brought in, and they became instant leaders on the team. They’re more focused, more dedicated,” he said. “It only helped the culture. That’s what I would tell Dabo.”

Swinney has often said the transfer portal is in his locker room and that it is the job of the Clemson staff to develop its players. But he has somewhat come around, though mostly in unsuccessful efforts. In late 2021, Clemson felt it had traction with eventual Michigan commit Olu Oluwatimi. In early 2022, the Tigers offered offensive guard O’Cyrus Torrence from Louisiana, who chose Florida. This offseason, Swinney targeted offensive linemen Alan Herron out of Division II Shorter, Middle Tennessee’s Keylan Rutledge and Tennessee’s Addison Nichols. Herron picked Penn State, then flipped to Maryland. Rutledge signed with Georgia Tech. Nichols signed with Arkansas.

Is name, image and likeness a factor in Swinney not using the transfer portal more? As athletic director Graham Neff acknowledged, Clemson doesn’t lead its recruiting pitch with NIL opportunities. Swinney has always wanted to tout Clemson’s culture, program success and graduation rate.

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Although some programs appear undeterred by NCAA rules prohibiting NIL as an inducement, Swinney prefers to use NIL to retain or reward players on the roster, the program source said.

Clemson has multiple collectives — including “The 110 Society,” which launched in November as an official partner of the school — and Swinney has encouraged fans to contribute.

“If you’re looking for some offensive linemen or receivers, you’re gonna probably drop a couple hundred grand to find one of those guys, and I just don’t think Swinney would do that,” Boulware said. “I just don’t think he’s that type of guy. He would rather do things the right way and develop the guys that we currently have.”

Swinney, 54, has been steadfast in his belief that Clemson will get back to competing for national championships.

“If we continue to develop a lot of these guys that have really shown some great signs of what they can be and continue to play with the type of effort and toughness and physicality that I’ve seen this year and our quarterback continues to develop,” he said. “And we’ve got another great recruiting class coming in. … A lot of reasons for (optimism).”

Those who know him best agree.

“This dude is one of the greatest ever,” Mac Lain said. “You look at what he’s accomplished, how he’s accomplished it his way, I don’t think there’s any question. … If he goes on another run? It’s gonna be unbelievable.”

Turnipseed, who also worked at Alabama and now has his own consulting company, said great coaches don’t “waver every time there’s some ripples in the water.”

“To everybody panicking … I would say this: Dabo is still a top-five coach in America,” Turnipseed said. “He’s not gonna panic and jump off the deep end and change everything. But he will adjust. He might not adjust as quickly as everybody wants him to adjust. But he will adjust.”

There are only four active championship-winning coaches: newly crowned Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, North Carolina’s Mack Brown, who won at Texas in 2005, and Swinney and Georgia’s Kirby Smart, who have won multiple titles.

Can Clemson, No. 10 in Stewart Mandel’s too-early top 25, get back in the national mix in 2024? Optimism stems from the combination of injured players getting healthy, including receivers Adam Randall and Antonio Williams, and the recruiting class. The Tigers have five top-100 players — including two five-stars in wide receiver Bryant Wesco and linebacker Sammy Brown — and 12 blue-chippers. Four-star wide receiver TJ Moore caught 11 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns in the recent All-American Bowl. Tyler Brown, a former three-star, can build on a true freshman season in which he was the Tigers’ best receiver.

Klubnik, meanwhile, enters his second season as the starter in Riley’s scheme. Although the Tigers lost former five-star running back Will Shipley to the draft, leading rusher Phil Mafah is back. The defense lost several stars but returns plenty of talent: defensive linemen T.J. Parker and Peter Woods, safety Khalil Barnes and former five-star linebacker Barrett Carter.

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The Tigers open the season with a huge test: against likely preseason No. 1 Georgia at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Tigers travel to FSU but don’t play Notre Dame or North Carolina and get Louisville, NC State and South Carolina at home. The Playoff expanding to 12 teams could help ease Clemson’s path to a return.

Now it’s up to Swinney.

“I love coach Swinney. I will live and die by that man,” Boulware said. “So him saying Clemson fans have gotten a little spoiled is kind of true. And not that that’s a cop-out, but I feel like this stuff is good for programs to kind of go through because it’s not always going to be rainbows and daisies. You’re going to have seasons that are pretty average.

“Does that #### me off? Yes. (Were) we super average this year? Yes. We (were), compared to what we’ve been in the past. But I feel like from a growth standpoint, a leadership standpoint and a program-culture standpoint, this has got to be good for everybody.”