That’s all he said? Dabo Swinney reacts to 2026 decommits with unsettling calm

We know that Dabo Swinney is disenchanted with recruiting these days, especially with the NIL aspects,  so maybe his comments on this recent run of decommitments at Clemson shouldn't be too surprising.

This recent surge of bad news started with 4-star safety Blake Stewart, who tried to take visits to Miami and Vanderbilt under the radar. That broke Swinney's biggest recruiting rule — commitments can not take visits to other problems. Then blue-chip defensive lineman Keshawn Stancil, a player that was likely to see very early playing time at the rock, decided to flip his pledge to Miami. 

Could there be more decommitments on the rise? If so, Swinney isn't going to make a big deal out of it.

Dabo is losing the big recruiting battle

Swinney has always had these rules when it comes to Clemson recruits. For many years, those rules worked on the trail and led to great results on the field. He believes that everyone should be as good as their word they give to each other. And to his credit, Swinney is as committed to the players as they are to him. He doesn't purge kids if they don't become major contributors. He tries to see them through to receive their degree whether they were All-ACC or struggled to get off the practice squad.

But he refuses to change. He won't change. While most Clemson fans can respect his stance, they also don't want the program held hostage by someone that's so stubborn. He's continuing a self-imposed embargo between Clemson football and the transfer portal when just light usage of the portal would help the Tigers win at least one or two more games this season. This was supposed to be the best Clemson team that Swinney has had in five years, but the Tigers are going to need to win three of their final five games just to be bowl eligible. 

Miami is set to benefit from Clemson's fall

The Hurricanes have already gotten Stancil to flip, and now it looks like they are going to be the team to beat for Stewart as well. Earlier today, Rivals/On3 recruiting scout Steve Wiltfong made the prediction that Stewart would end up in Miami.

Recent events have taken Clemson's recruiting class outside of the top 15. 247Sports has the Tigers' class ranked at 16th overall.