Another interesting segment came out of Dabo Swinney’s interview with Carl Reed, a College Football Analyst for 247 and CBS Sports.
Reed also happened to coach Clemson freshman cornerback Toriano Pride, Jr. when he was the head coach at Lutheran North. He eventually accepted the head coaching position at De Smet Jesuit High School but resigned from his post last month.
Clemson’s head coach went in-depth on how he recruits and how his approach different than most other schools in the country.
“I’ve always been trying to slow recruiting down,” Swinney said.
“If you follow Clemson at all and know how we do things, it’s rare that we offer a freshman or sophomore,” he continued “I mean, I offered Deshaun Watson early, but he had been here, been in camp. I knew him. I offered Trevor (Lawrence) his sophomore year after we had a chance to get to know each other.”
“I’ve always valued our offer. I want it to mean something. I want to take a commitment when we make an offer. That’s how we always have gone about it here. I just think there are a lot of schools that make a lot of offers. But when a kid tries to commit they say oh, its not a committable offer. I’ve never understood that.”
That mindset has made its waves in the recruiting process often paying dividends for the Tigers.
“A lot of schools make a lot of offers, but if a kid tries to commit they say it’s not a committable offer. I have never understood that.” – Dabo Swinney @ClemsonFB #Clemson #collegefootball #Recruiting
Watch Full Interview: https://t.co/KWm8ZNRB6B pic.twitter.com/fDWmpIXxBc
— Carl Reed (@CoachReedLive) February 18, 2022