Clemson football: Recruiting the transfer portal – 85 is still the limit

If you follow Clemson football as closely as we do at this site, you’re also probably tired of the narrative, some of it driven by Clemson fans, that the Tigers don’t recruit the portal.

They do and have this spring.  No they don’t pay guy millions of dollars to leave his teammates and go across the country.  No they don’t offer anyone who’s breathing, but they do evaluate the portal and according to Dabo, offered two offensive linemen this spring that chose to go somewhere else.

The below caught my eye though, because of all the noise about why doesn’t Clemson recruit the portal more, get this guy and that guy and hey we need a linebacker or safety, like it’s Christmas morning and the presents are unlimited.

Scholarships aren’t unlimited and the Tigers are at 84. So, theoretically, without any other changes, they could take one – max.

"By my last count, the Tigers were at 84, leaving one open spot. Dabo Swinney made it clear heading into the spring that Clemson was in the market for a transfer offensive lineman, an interior guy, that could come in and contribute immediately preferably a center. A graduate transfer with just one year of eligibility left, so as to not run off any of the younger players on the roster."

So there’s that – Clemson has one scholarship to potentially offer an offensive lineman (or any other position, for that matter).

Now, you can argue about those 84 and disagree with some that make up that number, I can understand that, but it doesn’t change the fact they’re at 84 right now.

I’ll just say this, there’s a way Dabo and Clemson recruit and that hasn’t changed.  Should it change? Many fans believe it should.

But it hasn’t, as you can observe later in the article where Clemson has offered three running backs and have yet to expand their list at this point in May, despite there being limited to no traction with any of the current three offers.

"The plan is to add a fifth in the 2023 recruiting class, but up until now, the coaches have cast a very small net. Only three 2023 running backs currently have offers, and Clemson isn’t the favorite to land any of the three."

This approach frustrates some, myself included at times, but on the other hand, it resonates with the recruits that do receive offers, just not these three apparently.

Has the recruiting game passed Dabo and crew by?  Some are sure it has, others say it’s a tried and true formula, why change?

I haven’t come to any grand conclusions yet, but I do know the landscape of college football is changing for all of us.

The author of the article linked and quoted above, JP Priester, is scheduled to be on the Sluggo podcast tonight live at 7:30 p.m. EST.  You can view live on YouTube here or Facebook here.

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