Dabo Swinney explains why Clemson hasn't taken a single transfer

Stanford took four, and Duke took 13. Notre Dame took eight, while Liberty took 16. Alabama took 15, and Florida State took 17. But as the spring transfer portal winds down and teams prepare to roll into the fall with what they've got, at press time the only FBS teams yet to take a transfer this cycle at the three service academies... and Clemson. 

It's difficult to state definitively that Dabo Swinney's resistance to adapt to recent changes in college football are the reason Clemson has fallen back to earth over the past few years, but we can at least say with absolute certainty that Clemson's backslide has coincided with the Portal-and-NIL era. After going 79-7 with six ACC championships, six College Football Playoff berths, six AP top-four finishes and two national championships from 2015-20, since 2021 Clemson is 30-10 with one ACC championship, no Playoff appearances, and no AP top-10 finishes. 

After accepting one transfer apiece before the 2022 and '23 seasons, Clemson is sitting at a goose egg today.

"It wasn't necessarily an intentional thing," Swinney told ACC Network during the conference's spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla. "There was a couple guys we looked at, but they've got to love you too."

No one's suggesting Clemson add just to add, but at some point principles and preference give way to sheer reality. The Tigers have lost 35 transfers over the last three years, according to the 247Sports database, while adding two. That's a net loss of 33 players, more than an entire recruiting class. And it's not like Dabo is signing mega-classes to compensate either. Again per the 247 database, Clemson signed 21 high schoolers in 2022, 26 in 2023, and 22 in '24. 

There's also the reality that lots of guys transferring are really, really good. The data shows that around 20 percent of elite college football players are transfers. That's a market Clemson is not participating in. This is common sense: a baseball player with 120 at-bats is going to hit more home runs than a similarly-skilled player with 85. 

-- Of the 25 players to earn consensus All-America honors in 2023, four players transferred to get there, and a fifth (Miami [Ohio] kicker Graham Nicholson) transferred after the season. 

-- 23 of the top 100 picks in last month's NFL draft transferred from one four-year institution to another at some point in their college careers. That includes all six selections from defending ACC champion Florida State. 

Nevertheless, Dabo explained his lack of action with a classic Dabo-ism. 

"Honestly, every player is technically a transfer," he said. "We just signed a whole class of guys transferring from high school."

Zing.

"We like our guys. We like our starters," he continued. "We look at every position and say, 'Coach Reed, you're going to get two corners, do you want a transfer?' 'No, sir. I like my guys.' We had 127 players go through spring, and 125 are still on our roster, post-spring. Maybe we should get a trophy."

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.