Dabo: Most transfers 'aren't good enough' to play for Clemson

Head coach Dabo Swinney says he didn't plan for Clemson to be one of just a few programs in the country not to add a player from the transfer portal this year.

"Well, it wasn't really necessarily like an intentional thing," Swinney said, according to Derrian Carter of USA TODAY. "There were a couple guys we looked at. They gotta love you, too."

The Tigers joined Army, Navy, and Air Force as the only programs not to bring in a transfer. However, the service academies aren't allowed to take transfers, whereas Clemson can. But Swinney felt using the portal wouldn't benefit his team.

"I mean, it's really pretty simple. Most of the guys in the portal aren't good enough to play for us. That's just the reality of it," he told Roddy Jones during an interview on SiriusXM's College Sports Radio. "I mean, we have guys that are backups at Clemson that go in the portal because they just want to have an opportunity - and most of them are graduates, by the way. But we have guys that are backups. They want a chance to go play. And I've got no problem with that. Rarely do we have a starter leave Clemson."

Swinney and his program may not have added anyone from the portal, but the 54-year-old joked that he still made transfer additions.

"Honestly, every player is technically a transfer," Swinney said. "We just signed a whole class of guys transferring from high school, so we like our guys. We like our starters."

Clemson's 2024 class features five-star linebacker Sammy Brown and 11 four-star recruits. Nine of their 22 commits are listed on the ESPN 300.

The Tigers have also done a good job with retention. Clemson had 127 players entering the spring period, and 125 are still on the roster, Swinney said.

Swinney's program went 9-4 last season, including a 4-4 record in the ACC. It was Clemson's first single-digit win campaign since going 6-7 in 2010, Swinney's second full season with the team.