Signing Day: Pandemic Posse brings Christmas to Clemson

Don Munson (left) and Swinney discuss the class.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Dec 16 16:58:55 GMT-04:00 2020

Christmas came nine days early for head coach Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers, and instead of the gifts being wrapped by elves in regular Christmas paper, it was wrapped in National Letters of Intent sent by only the best and the brightest high school players in the country.

Upon the opening of the early signing period on Wednesday, a total of 18 players signed National Letters of Intent to play football at Clemson. The early signing period will conclude on Friday, Dec. 18, prior to National Signing Day on Feb. 3, 2021.

As of 3:30 p.m. ET, Clemson’s class ranks No. 5 according to ESPN, No. 5 according to 247Sports and No. 6 according to Rivals. Entering this recruiting cycle, Clemson's recruiting classes had finished in the top 15 of at least one of three primary recruiting services (ESPN, Rivals and 247 Sports) every year since 2011. Clemson was one of only seven schools to produce a Top 15 class in each of the last 10 years, a group that also includes Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame and Ohio State. After that group, the next longest active streak of Top 15 classes entering this year was five (Florida).

Swinney says this is a class he will never forget, and they already have a nickname: the Pandemic Posse.

“Christmas is next Friday, but it came a few days early. All of our signing classes are special. They really are,” he said. “But I’ll never forget my first class, February of ’09, the ‘Dandy Dozen.’ And I’ll never forget this class, ever. The ‘Pandemic Posse’ is what I’ve called them because this is the most unique recruiting class that we’ve had to sign, and the most unique recruiting experience that any of us have had.

“You talk about a great group of young people, a great group of young leaders – that’s who this group is, and I can’t wait to get started with them in person. A couple of them I haven’t even had a chance to meet in person, which is the most 2020 thing ever in our world here at Clemson. So, super excited about them.”

Due to recruiting restrictions that were implemented by the NCAA in response to the coronavirus, and the ongoing ban on recruiting visits that has been in effect since March, members of the 2021 class have not been on campus for a visit in Austin (TX) LBJ safety Andrew Mukuba, Atlanta (GA) Westlake cornerback Nathaniel Wiggins and Bogart (GA) North Oconee quarterback Bubba Chandler. Swinney said his staff deserves all the credit.

“Very thankful for our staff,” he said. “It’s an enormous amount of work every year that goes into the recruiting process, but this year, in all that we couldn’t do, we had to figure out what we could do. And the job of our recruiting staff is amazing, and everybody in this entire organization pulling together to put our best foot forward to still be able to convey who we are at Clemson and what we’re all about and secure a great class.”

If Clemson’s rankings hold, Clemson will have now produced seven consecutive signing classes that have ranked in the top 10 nationally according to at least one major recruiting service. As the rankings presently stand, Clemson is in a position to sign back-to-back Top 5 recruiting classes according to at least one major service for the first time in rankings on record since 2003. Last year, Clemson’s 2020 class finished No. 1 according to ESPN, No. 2 according to Rivals and No. 3 according to 247Sports.

To date, every signing class in Dabo Swinney’s head coaching tenure has won at least one ACC Championship at Clemson with exception of Clemson’s 2020 recruiting class, which will have the opportunity to join that list when it faces Notre Dame in the ACC Championship Game this Saturday.

"It's an exciting group. It's a group that brings power, speed, athleticism, high character, and great leadership qualities," Swinney said of the 2021 group. "And one of the really cool things about this class is, they're all winners. These guys have won. The great majority of these guys have won state championships, or they've competed for them. Coming from programs that have great cultures and they're well coached and I know they're gonna bring this stuff with him.

"It just never gets old seeing a young man choose Clemson. Especially nowadays where our program is, where our brand is. We have a national brand. We can recruit all over the country, from California to Texas. This year I think we had nine states represented in this class. But these are 18 guys that really could have gone anywhere they wanted to go and the fact that they chose to come to Clemson and believe in who we are as people, believe in our philosophy and the culture of our program, just very grateful for that."