Dabo Swinney – Syndication Server

Clemson vs. Florida State is one of college football’s 10 most meaningful games in 2024

Clemson vs. Florida State has huge implications in 2024.

Dabo Swinney and Clemson are gearing up for a rematch against Florida State in the 2024 season, eager to avenge their previous encounters. The anticipation for this showdown is palpable, with both teams intensifying their preparations during the offseason. As the season draws closer, the rivalry between Clemson and FSU only grows stronger, promising an electrifying clash on the field.

Adding to the intrigue is DJ Uiagalelei, former Clemson starting quarterback and now leader of the Seminoles’ offense. His transition to Florida State has injected new energy into the matchup, sparking debates and speculation among fans and analysts alike. With Uiagalelei at the helm, the stakes are higher than ever, setting the stage for a fiercely contested battle between these college football powerhouses.

According to 247Sports, Clemson’s matchup with Florida State is the No. 8 most meaningful game for the 2024 season.

The Seminoles snapped a seven-game losing streak to Clemson with last season’s overtime win in Death Valley, a victory that catapulted Florida State to bigger and better things under coach Mike Norvell. This is one of four nationally-ranked opponents the Tigers have to deal with this fall amid one of the toughest schedules Dabo Swinney’s program has had to face in recent years as a national title contender. This is Clemson’s fifth game of the year and likely third against a top-25 team.

If you watched last season’s loss to Florida State, you know the Tigers had no business losing that game. In 2024, Florida State’s roster should be weaker, while Clemson’s has a strong chance of being better with some development on the offensive side of the ball.

Clemson has a lot to prove in this matchup, this time on the road. This game could be a deciding factor in who claims the ACC.

Dabo Swinney continues praise for freshman wide receiver Bryant Wesco

Bryant Wesco has been impressing his head coach.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers need a star at wide receiver and they may have gotten just that in freshman wide receiver Bryant Wesco.

Wesco was an early enrollee with high expectations as a five-star recruit, and so far, he’s lived up to those expectations. Wesco recorded three catches for 26 yards and a ridiculous touchdown in the Tigers’ Orange and White spring game, looking like a threat on the outside. He’s been so promising that Swinney has taken notice of what Wesco has been doing and what he has shown him as a player.

“You get these guys in here as freshmen, you never really know exactly where they are till you start coaching them and some guys, you come in and you see the talent right away but maybe the maturity and even the commitment is not quite where it needs to be,” Swinney said. “He’s a kid, from day one, the commitment is above the talent and it just drives everything. He’s very conscientiousness, he can take things from the meeting rooms to the practice field.

“He’s already put on about eight or nine pounds and he’s still going to be a developing guy between now and August. He just took right to it and he had a lot of opportunity…man, he took advantage of it and really showed that he’s a guy that can play and he’s definitely going to be a guy that can help us.”

Clemson has talent at wide receiver with guys such as Antonio Williams and Tyler Brown, but neither fit the mold of a true alpha wide receiver. That’s where Wesco can fit right in.

If Wesco can have an immediate impact for this offense, the Tigers’ wide receiver room is going to be a lot stronger than many expect.

WATCH: Dabo Swinney’s full interview on ACC Network

Clemson Football: Watch Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney’s full interview with ACC Network’s ACC PM on Monday, April 15.

Dabo Swinney said he loved what he saw in this year’s Orange vs. White Clemson spring game.

“We’ve got the ingredients. We’ve just got a lot of work to do,” Swinney told ACC Network hosts Mark Packer and Taylor Tannebaum during an exclusive appearance on ACC PM Monday. “I think we’ve got an eager group that’s got some good self-awareness. We’ve got good leadership on both sides.”

Over the course of a 19-minute interview, Swinney touched on several topics, including:

-what he learned from his team in this year’s spring game

-five-star recruits Bryant Wesco and Sammy Brown, and the team’s receiving room and linebacker corps

-the need for running back Phil Mafah to become a tone-setter on offense

-what he’s seen from quarterback Cade Klubnik this spring, as well as the impressive performance by backup QB Trent Pearman in the Orange vs. White game

-where he plans to use Peter Woods on defense

-Garrett Riley being settled in ahead of his second season as Clemson’s offensive coordinator

Here’s everything Swinney said on his appearance on ACC Network.

Where Clemson ranks in every updated 2024 team recruiting rankings

Here is how Clemson currently fares across all major recruiting platforms.

Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football program but many programs across took advantage of the early signing period, which allows teams to lock in their talented recruits to join their program.

The Tigers have had a successful early signing day, landing two offensive linemen in Elyjah Thurmon and Mason Wade while also securing the signings of other commits who have been waiting a long time for this moment. In the ever-changing world of college football, getting players signed and prepared to join the team has become much more important.

With signing day over, we’ve seen Clemson climb team recruiting rankings as they added more members to their 2024 recruiting class and signed some of the top players around the country. Below is a look at where the Tigers stand in each of the four top recruiting outlets: 247Sports, ESPN, On3, and Rivals.

Updated 4/16

Is Dabo Swinney a “portal denier?” This college football analyst says yes

Clemson Tigers Football: One noteworthy college football analyst describes Clemson coach Dabo Swinney and his program as a “transfer portal denier.”

Those who have followed Dabo Swinney for any amount of time know that the veteran Clemson coach has been reluctant — at best — to go after players in the NCAA transfer portal.

Swinney has been firm in sticking to his proverbial guns on the issue. He believes that the old-fashioned ways of recruiting players out of high school and developing them into bonafide college athletes is the proven way. “The right way,” as former Tigers linebacker Ben Boulware told The Athletic’s Grace Raynor for a lengthy profiled piece on Swinney and Clemson back in January.

But with the transfer portal set to become even more expansive and unpredictable when the NCAA approves of unlimited transfers with no loss in playing time (in other words, college sports’ equivalent of free agency), Swinney may soon have no choice but to accept the changes around him and to step up his recruiting efforts through the portal.

Until then, Swinney’s reluctance has earned him the rather unique label of “portal denier” in the words of The Athletic’s Max Olson, who recently wrote about “the five types of college football programs you meet in the transfer portal.”

Writing that Clemson remains the “outlier in the portal recruiting world,” Olson notes that the Tigers have extended offers to only a handful of transfers via the portal since 2021. That was the year the portal exploded after the NCAA voted to allow student-athletes to transfer once and become immediately eligible at the next program of their choosing.

While Olson admires Swinney for the way he runs his program, he also envisions a world in which Swinney embraces the portal.

“Imagine how many players would want to transfer to Clemson with its staff, infrastructure, trophies and NFL Draft picks. The Tigers would likely be doing well in this pool if they ever cared to jump in. They’ve dealt with attrition like everyone else, with 33 scholarship players transferring out since the end of the 2021 season. Still, Swinney is doing what he believes is best for his program culture.”

Olson adds that Clemson is the only Power 5 (soon-to-be four) program that has yet to sign a single transfer this off-season.

“Iowa has typically been very selective with transfers in recent years and only took one this offseason: five-star tackle Kadyn Proctor, who has already bailed to go back to Alabama. The list of programs on the low end of transfer commitments so far includes Michigan (two), Stanford (two), Northwestern (three) and Virginia Tech (four). Some schools have stricter transfer standards than others, though it’s notable new Northwestern coach David Braun has mostly stayed out of the portal despite the program losing 14 scholarship transfers since July. We’ll see whether the spring window changes the calculus for a few of these teams.”

And whether Clemson and Swinney can remain “portal deniers” for much longer.

Dabo Swinney’s sends a message to his team as spring ball comes to an end

Dabo Swinney sends his team a message.

Over the weekend, Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football team had their big spring game, called the Orange and White game. It was a chance for fans to see how the players have improved and check out the new talent from the latest group of recruits.

Lots of fans showed up at the Clemson Memorial Stadium, making it feel like a real game day. The game didn’t disappoint anyone, with some great plays and unexpected moments. Overall, it was a fun event for everyone involved, with lots to talk about afterward. That included messages from Dabo Swinney, who had some things to share with his team following the game.

“You can win some games, but you can’t win at the highest level without being an elite team,” Swinney said following Clemson’s Spring Game last Saturday. “When I talk about team, I am talking about selflessness, I am talking about servant leadership, I am talking about caring about each other, knowing each other, that type of stuff. You need to be together. That is a big part about what this summer is about.”

A lot of spring football is getting better, but it is also becoming a team. Swinney knows that chemistry is important.

“It is really being together as a team. That is how you win. That’s how we win at Clemson,” Swinney said. “You have to get stronger together and the leadership and chemistry that comes with that. It is not just seniors. You can be a freshman.”

There’s no doubt that Swinney is right here. He’s built national championship winning teams off of these things.

Clemson ranks top 15 in the Athletic’s recruiting potential rankings

While down from last year, Clemson’s recruiting potential remains one of the best.

The Clemson football program has developed into a powerhouse during the Dabo Swinney era, with the Tigers becoming one of the top recruiting schools in the country during that time.

While Clemson hasn’t had a top 5 class in some years, the Tigers always recruit in the top 15 and have hit on some big time recruits. Even if their classes aren’t ranked as high as previous years, the 2023 class is an excellent example of why those rankings don’t matter as much as some may think, with that class performing among the top in the country.

Recently, the Athletic released their annual article ranking teams by potential recruiting prowess ($$$), with Clemson dropping from No. 8 to No. 14.

Clemson had a bit of an identity crisis in 2023, but Dabo Swinney continues to compete with SEC schools on the recruiting trail. As long as he can convince recruits to ignore what his critics say about his thoughts around NIL and the transfer portal, Swinney should have a seat at the table with any player he wants. Despite the program’s recent struggles, this era of recruits still grew up watching Swinney and the Tigers dominate the sport.

What I find interesting about this is the lack of acknowledgement of Clemson’s 2025 class and how that’s building. It is currently a consensus top 5 class, with most having the Tigers top 3. Even if it’s early, the Tigers have some huge names remaining on their board and a crystal ball prediction to land the No. 2 overall player in the class.

This feels a little low for Swinney’s program, but the 2025 class should fix that.

Josh Pate believes ‘There’s no definitive proof that they’ve fallen off’ regarding Clemson

247Sports analyst Josh Pate doesn’t believe there’s definitive proof that Clemson has fallen off.

Dabo Swinney has helped build Clemson into a powerhouse in college football, but many question the program’s leader and believe that the Tigers have “fallen off” during the NIL era of the sport.

Someone who isn’t buying the falloff is 247Sports analyst Josh Pate. In a recent edition of Late Kick with Josh Pate, the analyst labeled Clemson as a top 10 college football program. Ranking No. 10, Pate still sees the Tigers as one of the top programs in the country, with Swinney leading the program.

“I think it’s important to use the same scale here. By the Clemson scale, it feels like this program has ‘fallen off’ so to speak a lot more than they actually have,” Pate said. “So by the Clemson scale, you ought to be right in the thick of the national championship conversation every year, and they haven’t necessarily been that the last couple of years. That’s not the worst thing in the world. In the storm-chasing world, sometimes we have a tornadic supercell. It’s already got a history of producing and then it has to cycle…Well, Clemson, maybe they’re just backbuilding. Maybe they’re just cycling. There’s no definitive proof that they’ve fallen off. And by the way, fallen off is a first-world term here.”

“It’s why I’m talking about scale. If you use the same scale for Clemson as you do for everyone else, they’re still winning a lot of games. I’m not putting them in the Top 5, by the way. So don’t argue with me that they’re overrated if you’re going to…I do have them ahead of a Tennessee or a Utah because the results have been comparable, and I still think there’s a lot to say for the stability there. I think there’s a lot to say for the culture there.”

Pate makes some excellent points here regarding the scale in which you assess Clemson as a program. While the Tigers haven’t been in the conversation for a National Championship recently, there is no definitive proof that they have fallen off as a program.

Like other things, football can come in waves. Michigan recently won the National Championship for the first time since 1997. Are they not a top-tier program? Of course, they are. It is important to understand that you will not always be that top dog.

“Now, I think a lot of people have opinions on their talent acquisition strategy and how resistant they’ve been to really embracing the transfer portal,” Pate said. “We’ve talked about that a lot on the show. Difference is Dabo Swinney isn’t a rookie head coach. Might he be stubborn on this front? Might he be really entrenched in his ways? Yeah, but at least there’s a proven philosophy there. And so, if he’s going to fail, it really will just be because they didn’t evolve with the game, but I’m always going to give guys with proven track records benefit of the doubt. It wouldn’t be the first time that the sport has sort of left a philosophy behind or passed a philosophy by. But it’s also well within his right to continue to evolve, too.

Clemson ranks top 5 in ESPN’s college football future power rankings for defense

Swinney and the Tigers have one of the best defenses, year after year.

Year after year, Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football program boast one of the best defenses in college football, and that isn’t expected to change in 2024.

The Tigers have a tremendous amount of talent on their defense and continue to recruit at a tremendous level on that side of the ball. In the 2023 recruiting class, it was bringing in guys such as defensive tackle Peter Woods and defensive end T.J. Parker, two immediate impact stars on the defensive line along with multiple players in the secondary who stepped up and made the Tigers’ defense special. The 2024 class has seen players such as five-star linebacker Sammy Brown join the program, who looks like an immediate impact player in his own right.

With Clemson having a strong defense in 2024 and looking beyond that, the Tigers ranked No. 4 in ESPN’s future defense rankings ($$$). A drop from No. 2 last season, but still a strong ranking.

Clemson’s first four-loss season since 2011 wasn’t tied to any significant slippage on defense. The Tigers still finished in the top 10 nationally in yards allowed, fifth in expected points added (defense) and second behind Michigan in defensive efficiency. Like any perennially strong group, Clemson loses key players at all three levels, especially the front seven, but the returning star power is there. If several depth pieces emerge, coordinator Wes Goodwin should field a formidable group in 2024 and beyond. The secondary is a short-term question mark, although Clemson returns intriguing players like sophomore cornerback Avieon Terrell (6 pass breakups in 2023), sophomore nickel Khalil Barnes (team-high 3 forced fumbles) and senior safety R.J. Mickens, who ranked third on the team in tackles. Like Terrell, sophomore cornerback Shelton Lewis also gained valuable playing time as a freshman. Clemson could use a lift from junior cornerback Jeadyn Lukus, an ESPN top-35 recruit in 2022 who has been limited in his first two seasons.

Clemson has all the tools to be an elite defense in 2024 and the recruiting chops to keep that trend going. When the defense loses a player to graduation or the NFL draft, they do an excellent job of filling that vacancy with a player who will make an impact. We see it repeatedly, which has made this defense such a force in college football during the Dabo Swinney era.

Although Clemson loses All-America linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and line stalwarts Tyler Davis and Ruke Orhorhoro, it has consistently shown the ability to reload. Sophomore tackle Peter Woods and sophomore end T.J. Parker both appear set for national stardom. Parker set Clemson true freshman records with 5.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss in 2023. DeMonte Capehart provides a veteran presence at tackle, where Clemson boasts very good depth. The key is to find more capable options at defensive end to aid Parker. Trotter will be missed at linebacker, but Clemson brings back two-time All-ACC selection Barrett Carter to lead the group, alongside junior Wade Woodaz. The long-term outlook looks good with Sammy Brown, ESPN’s No. 13 recruit for 2024. Despite limited portal activity, Clemson continues to recruit well on defense and has three top-100 players (all linemen) committed for 2025.

Clemson has had some excellent offenses over the years, but nowhere near what the Tigers’ defense has been when you take into account talent, development, and consistency. This Clemson defense is built for the now and the future.

Clemson DT Stephiylan Green after 4 sack spring game: ‘I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself now; I’m ready to play now’

Stephiylan Green is ready to make an impact on Clemson’s defense.

Clemson’s 2024 Orange and White spring game was another excellent success, with many Tigers showing the Clemson coaches and fans that they could be a massive impact player for this team.

One of the top performers from the game was defensive tackle Stephiylan Green, who put together one of the best spring game performances we’ve seen in some time. Green was a monster on the defensive line, recording four sacks in the game. It looks like his redshirt season was made of good use, as Green looks like an instant impact player for the Tigers in 2024.

“I’ve built a lot of confidence up from last year. I got here last year and I had a good spring game last year… I’ve practiced this, I know the fundamentals so I was just ready for the pressure and came out and balled,” Green said.

“I think it’s just the game plan. Just learning the plays, it was all about the plays from last year. I just needed to learn the plays, not having to go out there and think.”

Clemson has some vacancies on the defensive line, making this performance that much more impactful. He’s ready to make that impact too, noting that he has the confidence and is ready to play now.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself now, I’m ready to play now.”