With Senior Day approaching and the season entering its final stretch, Swinney was asked how much he’s already thinking about next year, the portal and retention.
“To me, that never stopped,” he said. “That’s always just a part of what we do in college football — that’s spring, that’s summer, that’s fall camp, that’s in-season. It’s not just like, ‘OK, this is the week we sit down.’”
NFL grades will help shape decisions for some, while the portal will loom for others.
“You’ll have deeper conversations with guys,” Swinney said. “Some guys will have to make a decision on, do they want to go pro? Do they want to stay?”
New Portal Window, Same Clemson Philosophy
The portal’s timing has shifted, but Swinney insists Clemson’s core approach hasn’t.
“The portal… I’m glad it’s [been] moved,” he said. “I still don’t like where it is, but at least it’s just one, and it’s better where it is than where we had it.”
He expects players across the country to signal their intentions quickly.
“For sure, that’ll happen,” Swinney said. “As seasons end and things like that, I’m sure kids will make it known, ‘Hey, I’m going to be entering the portal.’ But you still can’t talk to them.”
Tampering, “Cutting Deals” and Why Clemson Won’t Join In
Swinney didn’t pretend everything around the portal is clean.
“There’s still a lot of tampering going on,” he said. “That’s just the way of the world. I mean, it’s out there. We’ve had people reach out to us and say, ‘Hey, such and such, this guy’s gonna enter the portal.’ I know that people are having those conversations and eating and cutting deals. Not us.”
Asked how much of a disadvantage that puts Clemson in, Swinney’s answer was blunt.
“I have no idea. I ain’t worried about it. I don’t care,” he said. “We’re going to do what’s right. So I don’t care what other people do. Clemson’s gonna be just fine. We’re going to do what’s right. Always have.”
When Clemson Actually Uses the Portal
Swinney listed the scenarios that push Clemson toward the portal — and they all start with gaps.
“For us, the portal, nothing has changed… as far as what our approach is,” he said. “What puts us in the portal is not getting the best high school kid that we want, or a kid decommits late.”
He added a few more.
“Or you have guys leave on your roster that you didn’t want to leave, that puts you in the portal to fill the gap,” Swinney said. “Or you may just sign a guy that hadn’t panned out like you want, or he got hurt, or whatever.”
He stressed that Clemson’s retention numbers remain among the nation’s best despite all the upheaval.
“We’ve led the nation in retention the last three years in the craziest time in the history of football,” Swinney said. “I would imagine we’ll still be right there near the top in the country in retention.”
No Cutting Players: “Till Graduation Do We Part”
In an era where some coaches openly admit to “cutting” players who don’t pan out, Swinney drew a hard line.
“As long as the kid does what he’s supposed to do here, he’s gonna have an opportunity to graduate,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. [It’ll] always be that way, because I’m gonna be the head coach.”
If a player isn’t good enough, Swinney puts the responsibility on himself and his staff.
“Kid comes to Clemson, he’s a good kid. If he’s not a good enough player, that’s on us,” Swinney said. “If he goes to class, he’s a great effort guy, you know, he’s a good citizen… it’s till graduation do we part.”
He connected that philosophy to Clemson’s academic track record.
“We’ve led the nation in graduation, too, the last three years,” Swinney said. “For a long time, we’ve been top 10 academically. That’s the number one thing in this program, is graduation.”
When Players Leave — And Why Clemson Helps Them
Even as he touts retention, Swinney acknowledged that some departures are positive for everyone.
“You might have some guys that graduate that may want to go play,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of those guys last year. They’ve had a chance to go play [at] some smaller schools, and have some opportunity. And that’s a great thing, nothing wrong with that.”
Most who leave, he noted, do so with a Clemson degree in hand.
“Most of the kids that leave here are graduates,” Swinney said. “They want to get the degree here, and then they might move on. We’re here to help with that. We’ve got great relationships. These kids, like I said, they love Clemson.”