Will Clemson football’s 2026 recruiting class be Dabo Swinney’s best?

Clemson football has gathered a collection of blue-chip commits for its 2026 recruiting class. Blue-chip prospects are players rated four or five stars by recruiting experts and databases. The Tigers have 13 commits from talents considered "blue-chips" in the 2026 class. All of which are four-star rated prospects according to On3.

This gives the Tigers the fourth-most blue-chip commits in the country. This puts them behind just USC (20), Texas A&M/Notre Dame (17), and Georgia/Ohio State (14).

All of this elite talent arriving at Clemson in 2026 boosts its recruiting class to the top in the ACC. Nationally, it's ranked the seventh-best recruiting class. With just 19 commitments for the 2026 class, 68 percent of the Tigers’ recruiting class is made up of blue-chip prospects.

Six of the blue-chip commits are also top 10 players in their respective states. This group includes wide receiver Naeem Burroughs out of Florida, safety Kentavion Anderson out of the home state of South Carolina, offensive lineman Leo Delaney out of North Carolina, quarterback Tait Reynolds out of Arizona, offensive lineman Carter Scruggs out of Virginia, and wide receiver Connor Salmin out of Maryland.

Including Delany and Scruggs, there are five blue-chippers on the offensive line committed for 2026. Overall, nine of the 13 blue-chip commits are offensive players. Of the four defensive commits, two are defensive linemen and two are safeties. Dre Quinn and Kameron Cody are the two up front while Anderson and Kaden Gebhardt are the talents on the back end.

Dabo Swinney’s dedication to development and high school recruiting is doing wonders for the Tigers’ efforts. Swinney is well on his way to building his best recruiting class since the 2020 season. That class was ranked third in the nation at the end of its cycle. It was also the best ranked recruiting class in Swinney’s time as the Clemson head coach.

If the Tigers’ 2026 recruiting performance stays on its current trajectory, it could match or even beat the ranking of the 2020 class. That’ll give even more reason to believe the immediate future of the Tigers is bright.