Dabo Swinney and the transfer portal. Those two things don't often go hand-in-hand. But this offseason, the legendary Clemson football coach decided to dip his toe into the portal and he came away with three guys who will undoubtedly make the roster better.
One was Tristan Smith, a receiver from Southeast Missouri State who wasn't rated highly in the portal but who broke out during the spring game with numerous eye-popping plays.
The next was Jeremiah Alexander from Alabama who was once a five-star recruit at the high school level. He is expected to have an impact at linebacker and even led all tacklers during the spring game.
The final portal addition is Will Heldt, an edge rusher from Purdue. He was listed as a four-star transfer with a 92 overall rating by 247Sports after putting up big numbers with the Boilermakers last season despite them not being very good. There are high hopes for Heldt in a Clemson uniform.
I'm not the only one who believes this, college football recruiting expert Cooper Petagna also thinks Heldt is a name to know. In fact, he was Petagna's pick as the transfer we need to know in 2025.
Couple reasons why you should know about Clemson’s Will Heldt going into 2025. Championship type addition for Dabo Swinney. pic.twitter.com/KvX3DN7Iia
— Cooper Petagna (@cpetagna247) April 16, 2025
Petagna said that Heldt fits the culture at Clemson and while he's not the flashiest guy, he's going to get the job done like Swinney wants. He is just a perfect fit for the Tigers as a guy who works hard and isn't going to do anything super flashy but he'll be an All-ACC caliber player.
At Purdue in 2024, Heldt had 56 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and five sacks and that was while playing on one of the worst teams in the country where he was the focus. Imagine him on this Clemson defense. Big things are coming from this guy in 2025.