National media is barking up the wrong tree (again) with Dabo Swinney’s transfer portal statements

Well, less than 48 hours after I declare that I am tired of talking about Clemson’s practically non-existent relationship with the transfer portal, here I am discussing it again.

I shouldn’t be disgruntled. I should be thankful Dabo Swinney never lets us go without something to talk about.

This time, Coach Swinney followed up on his ‘every player is a transfer’ hypothesis with a clearer explanation of why the Tigers did not find any transfers that worked out for them in 2024.

To paraphrase Swinney’s explanation, he says transfers generally fit into three categories: 1) players looking to find playing time elsewhere, 2) players who have been tampered with and therefore have a destination in mind before they ever enter the portal, and 3) players who are looking for NIL.

In general, his explanation makes sense and is fair. As usual, he didn’t always frame his explanation in the best way possible. Finally, in what is becoming a tradition in the college sports media like no other, people took portions of his interview and created soundbites and tweets that have been sensationalized.

The best example of this last point comes from when he explains why players from the first group aren’t targets for Clemson most of the time. He said he doesn’t blame a kid for wanting to find a new opportunity to play when they aren’t getting playing time where they are. He notes most of Clemson’s outgoing transfers leave for this reason: they aren’t starting and want playing time.

He says most of the players in this group wouldn’t find playing time at Clemson either, and this accounts for the vast majority of players in the portal.

Of course, when this is boiled down to a digestible tidbit on X, it looks like this.

Did Swinney say this? Yes. Should Swinney know by now that people will take one sentence that sounds arrogant & elitist and sensationalize it? Yes. Is it as bad as people are making it out to be? No.

Swinney is saying that with the majority of players in the portal, Clemson would be swapping out players who aren’t going to find significant playing time with the Tigers for other players who won’t be getting significant playing time with the Tigers.

Swinney is saying that Clemson rarely needs to target that kind of player and when they do, they aren’t going to lie to a kid and promise playing time, which is respectable.

While it is Swinney’s description of the first group that is getting the headlines, it’s fair to push back and say this huge group of players isn’t really the crux of the matter. The transfer portal isn’t just for Power Conferences, it includes everything from G5 and FCS right down to Division II and III. The players who can improve Clemson's starting lineup are from the other two groups.

Those are the players that could realistic start for Clemson and improve their situation. Swinney is correct that there are very good players who enter the portal because they simply want to maximize their NIL income. Those players have market value and demand outweighs supply.

He is also correct that some very good players who weren’t planning to enter the portal do so because they have been tampered with and offered a huge NIL deal to jump to another program.

I don’t disagree with Swinney that kids who have a deal in place before they jump into the portal probably can’t be swayed away from that path. Some might look around just in case there is a better deal, but I agree that most of the time those kids end up with the program that tampered successfully.

It is with the third group that Swinney mentions that I do criticize his explanation. When he talks about the players who are looking for a better NIL situation, he says “We’re never gonna win that war”.

This is a disingenuous statement by Swinney. We know enough about Clemson's NIL situation to know they aren't swimming in funds, but they aren't struggling either.

The reality is that Swinney could win that war at times if he wanted to win it. He chooses to not even engage. We all know the old saying: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

If Swinney wants to prove he can build this program without using upfront NIL deals to acquire players (which is no longer against the rules of the NCAA thanks to the courts), that is his prerogative. It is misleading to the fanbase, however, to suggest Clemson can’t engage in that market. Clemson chooses to not engage in that market, and Swinney is the one driving that decision.