No doubt about it, Dabo Swinney's buyout is massive. In the event that Clemson administrators and boosters have seen enough, it would cost the Tigers $57 million to make Swinney go away. With that being so unlikely at this point, it is all about adapting to put Clemson in the best position to succeed in the long run. That would require the Tigers using the transfer portal to help every area of the team.
In Pete Thamel's article about the "six college football buyouts that will determine the coaching carousel" for ESPN.com, he brought up an interesting point in the case of Swinney. While he also believes the $57 million price point is too steep for Clemson to move on from Swinney, Thamel wonders if the Tigers will use the transfer portal to improve their offense like they just did on defense.
"There has been some evolution," Thamel wrote. "Clemson took in 10 defensive transfers last year. It only took one on offense. It is reasonable that there could be continued evolution there as the program slowly modernizes." Where would the Tigers be without the additions of Elliot Washington II (Penn State), Jerome Carter III (Old Dominion), and Corey Myrick (Southern Miss) in their secondary?
Clemson must open up its checkbook to spend on offensive personnel
In the first five games of the season, we have seen Clemson's secondary marvel, as well as other transfer players, make big impacts on defense. Will Heldt used to play at Purdue before coming to Clemson two years ago. Jeremiah Alexander was once a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Although Oklahoma transfer Markus Strong got hurt in Week 1, at least an attempt was made there.
In short, Clemson's increasingly heavy usage of the transfer portal has done wonders in aiding Tom Allen to get this defense heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, that has not been the case for Chad Morris' offense, and especially Matt Luke's woebegone offensive line. Swinney's decision to not pick up a quarterback in the portal was bad. The offensive line's many portal misses were even worse.
It is why true freshman Tait Reynolds emerged as the unquestioned starter at quarterback moving forward. Barring injury, there is no reason to ever pivot back to Christopher Vizzina this season. As for the offensive line, Clemson knew it was losing so much talent to the NFL, but did not do enough to counterbalance all those departures. It whiffed in the portal, banked on retention, and got burnt badly.
While Clemson is not in a strong enough financial position to move on from Swinney, he has to come to grips with the fact that he could use some help revamping his offense outside of the program. He is a receivers coach at his core and a strong recruiter out of high school in his own right. Swinney is an elite program builder, but he cannot be stubborn over his offensive personnel again this offseason.
If Clemson refrains from adding pieces to augment its offense in the portal, expect more of the same.
Add us as a preferred source on Google