I'm among those who think Dabo needs to be in the portal more but thought this was a good question and answer during ACC Kickoff. Clemson has more experience coming back for 2023 than even he expected
We've met a lot of transfers here at ACC Kickoff. You have kind of the old-school approach where you have two fifth-year guys, and they're all high school signees. I've read that you may lose a dozen outgoing transfers, but not sign many incoming transfers, and that seems to be different than most approach. Why is that your philosophy?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, it's just where we are kind of state of the program. You know, if I was taking a new job, then we would have no -- it would just be what you have to do because you're going to have a mass exodus of players, and you got to -- obviously it's probably not a good job, so you have to turn the roster. There's a lot of things that go into it.
But, you know, I'm going in year 15, and there's just a lot of continuity had. We've got a 98% graduation rate. We had seven guys that could have gone in the draft. I think three of them have masters degrees that I didn't think would be back here. I had no intention of them being back, but they're all back.
Will Putnam is back for a COVID year. Tyler Davis, Ruke, Sheridan, JP, XT, Justin Mascoll. These are all guys that are all graduates, that all could have headed off to the draft, but that's what excites me about this team is you have a group like that that came back to Clemson, and they didn't come back to just hang out in Tiger Town for another year. They came back with focus. They came back with a very clear purpose and vision of what they want to do in this one last shot for them. That is exciting to me.
So we've gone to the portal where we've needed it. We've signed a couple of quarterbacks where we felt like we needed a bridge guy, and an older backup veteran that would give us some depth. We've been able to do that, but we've not had a single starter leave Clemson. Not one. The kids that have left -- even the majority of the guys that have left Clemson have been graduates. That's number one.
Number two, we've had only two kids leave Clemson post-spring in the last two years, and they were both graduates. One was a sixth corner, and the other was a sixth defensive end, and they just wanted to go play.
Now, if you had a mass exodus after spring, you had 10, 12 -- you got to go, so we have not had that. We're still signing the best high school players in the country. I mean, listen, I would go sign Tyler Davis and Will Putnam and Cade Klubnik over anybody right now. These are great, great players.
So we're fortunate that way because we've been able to -- I mean, we're second winningest team in the country the last 12 years. We've never had a number one recruiting class. I don't think we've ever been close. I think we've had 13 top-15 classes in a row. Evaluation and development and retention has been how we've won at Clemson.
Again, you see it this year. Seven guys that all could have entered the draft, all came back. The infusion of another great signing class, 15 midyears, I mean, you know, we got -- we can go sign Peter Woods. I mean, I'm sure there were some good guys in the portal at D-line, but I like Peter Woods. I kind of like the guys we sign, and I like the guys that are on our team that are developing.
At some point we'll have some gap that we have to address. We've used it as we've needed.
We've met a lot of transfers here at ACC Kickoff. You have kind of the old-school approach where you have two fifth-year guys, and they're all high school signees. I've read that you may lose a dozen outgoing transfers, but not sign many incoming transfers, and that seems to be different than most approach. Why is that your philosophy?
DABO SWINNEY: Well, it's just where we are kind of state of the program. You know, if I was taking a new job, then we would have no -- it would just be what you have to do because you're going to have a mass exodus of players, and you got to -- obviously it's probably not a good job, so you have to turn the roster. There's a lot of things that go into it.
But, you know, I'm going in year 15, and there's just a lot of continuity had. We've got a 98% graduation rate. We had seven guys that could have gone in the draft. I think three of them have masters degrees that I didn't think would be back here. I had no intention of them being back, but they're all back.
Will Putnam is back for a COVID year. Tyler Davis, Ruke, Sheridan, JP, XT, Justin Mascoll. These are all guys that are all graduates, that all could have headed off to the draft, but that's what excites me about this team is you have a group like that that came back to Clemson, and they didn't come back to just hang out in Tiger Town for another year. They came back with focus. They came back with a very clear purpose and vision of what they want to do in this one last shot for them. That is exciting to me.
So we've gone to the portal where we've needed it. We've signed a couple of quarterbacks where we felt like we needed a bridge guy, and an older backup veteran that would give us some depth. We've been able to do that, but we've not had a single starter leave Clemson. Not one. The kids that have left -- even the majority of the guys that have left Clemson have been graduates. That's number one.
Number two, we've had only two kids leave Clemson post-spring in the last two years, and they were both graduates. One was a sixth corner, and the other was a sixth defensive end, and they just wanted to go play.
Now, if you had a mass exodus after spring, you had 10, 12 -- you got to go, so we have not had that. We're still signing the best high school players in the country. I mean, listen, I would go sign Tyler Davis and Will Putnam and Cade Klubnik over anybody right now. These are great, great players.
So we're fortunate that way because we've been able to -- I mean, we're second winningest team in the country the last 12 years. We've never had a number one recruiting class. I don't think we've ever been close. I think we've had 13 top-15 classes in a row. Evaluation and development and retention has been how we've won at Clemson.
Again, you see it this year. Seven guys that all could have entered the draft, all came back. The infusion of another great signing class, 15 midyears, I mean, you know, we got -- we can go sign Peter Woods. I mean, I'm sure there were some good guys in the portal at D-line, but I like Peter Woods. I kind of like the guys we sign, and I like the guys that are on our team that are developing.
At some point we'll have some gap that we have to address. We've used it as we've needed.
