This offseason feels like it's dragging on and that's typically the feeling you get when your team is expected to contend for a national title. Clemson football fans are chomping at the bit for the 2025 season to kick off.
The Tigers are projected to be a top-five team when the season does finally begin and that's because they have the nation's top quarterback and potentially six first-round NFL Draft prospects.
Cade Klubnik leads a talented Tigers team this season as potentially the early frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy after somehow being left out of the top 10 last season despite throwing for over 3,600 yards and 36 touchdowns with only six picks. He also rushed for over 400 yards and seven more scores.
Defensively, the team is led by Peter Woods, TJ Parker, and Avieon Terrell. All three of those guys might be the best players at their respective positions in college football.
Something is different about this offseason, though, compared to previous ones under Dabo Swinney: the transfer portal was utilized.
That's right, the legendary head coach and future Hall of Famer went against his usual stance of avoiding the portal and landed three guys who should have major impacts in 2025 in Jeremiah Alexander, Will Heldt, and Tristan Smith. All three of those guys bring something different to the table and each could legitimately play a role in Clemson's national title push this season.
And 247Sports agrees.
After looking at the final transfer portal player ratings, it seems as if two of the new Tigers received bumps. In fact, Smith went from an 85-rated three-star to a 90 rating he's now a top-150 prospect in the transfer portal. Heldt got a slight bump up from a 92 to a 93.
Smith is now ranked No. 150 overall and Heldt is No. 41.
If you were looking for yet another reason to be excited about the 2025 season, how about the fact that notorious transfer portal hater Dabo Swinney landed two of the top 150 transfers in the 2025 cycle? Yeah, that'll do it.