Clemson’s involvement in the transfer portal is heating up.
Of course, that’s not a reference to players joining the Tigers’ program from the outside. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has never added a player from the portal, and, as of now, that hasn’t changed. Instead, the Tigers are losing more players to it.
That attrition started to reach a fever pitch this week.
Four players left the program during the season with intentions to transfer if they haven’t already. With backup quarterback Taisun Phommachanh and receiver Frank Ladson being the latest Tigers to enter the portal Friday, Clemson has matched that number this week alone. Linebacker Kane Patterson first added to the tally Monday before safety Ray Thornton did the same Thursday.
That puts the number of Clemson players who’ve entered the portal since the start of the season at eight. Players in the portal do have the option of returning to their current team if the move is mutually agreed upon, but Clemson has already removed each of those players from its official roster, a telltale sign of their intentions.
And with the offseason still not officially here — Clemson is waiting to find out who and where it will play in a bowl game — there figures to be more attrition in the future.
For the time being, the portal’s most significant impact on Clemson is its depth. Of the players who’ve entered it, only Ladson began the season as a starter, though he only played in four games before undergoing season-ending groin surgery. Lyn-J Dixon, the Tigers’ most experienced running back, quickly fell behind true freshman Will Shipley and sophomore Kobe Pace in the competition to replace Travis Etienne before transferring out after three games.
Another back, Michel Dukes, played in just one game and got just 42 carries over three seasons before leaving. Dixon and Dukes landed at West Virginia and South Florida, respectively, but their departures, along with sixth-year senior Darien Rencher after this season, leaves the Tigers with just three scholarship backs on the roster heading into next season. Clemson is trying to bring in at least one in its 2022 recruiting class.
Meanwhile, Thornton is the second safety to hit the portal, joining Joseph Charleston. Both were backups this season who combined for just 128 snaps, but Clemson is also losing a starter there in Nolan Turner, who’s exhausting his eligibility after six seasons.
Clemson still has Jalyn Phillips, R.J. Mickens, Tyler Venables and the ACC’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, Andrew Mukuba, there for the time being, and the Tigers have a couple of safeties committed in the current recruiting cycle. But Mukuba, who cross-trained at cornerback during the spring and fall camp, could be a candidate to move to the outside with starting corners Andrew Booth and Mario Goodrich set to move on to the NFL.
Patterson’s departure is another blow to the second level of the defense. The former four-star recruit has spent most of the season as the third-team middle linebacker, but starter James Skalski is out of eligibility after this season. Another backup there, Jake Venables, has decided not to return next season after dealing with injuries throughout his career. Perhaps LaVonta Bentley, Keith Maguire or Jeremiah Trotter Jr. could move over and get a look in the middle, but the starting job at weakside linebacker is opening up, too, with fifth-year senior Baylon Spector moving on after this season.
Ladson’s decision could be viewed as a surprise given he began the season as one of the Tigers’ top three wideouts, but he’s had trouble staying on the field because of various injuries (31 receptions in eight starts over three seasons). Clemson is also losing star receiver Justyn Ross after this season, but the Tigers still have pretty good depth at the position with Joseph Ngata, E.J. Williams, Beaux Collins, Dacari Collins, Will Taylor and Troy Stellato among those in the fold assuming they all decide to return.
The least surprising move into the portal thus far has been Phommachanh’s.
As a backup all three of his seasons with the Tigers — first to Trevor Lawrence and then to D.J. Uiagalelei — Phommachanh hasn’t gotten any sort of extended opportunity to lead Clemson’s offense. Even when a struggling Uiagalelei was benched in the second half of the Tigers’ loss at Pittsburgh earlier this season, that lasted just two series.
He finished his Clemson career just 22 of 48 passing for 204 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions while running 30 times for 150 yards. But he was also the most experienced quarterback other than Uiagalelei on the roster.
The Tigers are bringing in Westlake (Texas) five-star commit Cade Klubnik, who’s ranked as the nation’s top high school quarterback by the 247Sports Composite. The only other signal callers currently on the roster for next season are walk-ons Hunter Helms and Billy Wiles.
In other words, it’s not hard to envision Uiagalelei and Klubnik being the Tigers’ top two quarterbacks next fall if Clemson sticks with what it’s got there now, but would the Tigers be comfortable with a backup that’s never taken a collegiate snap? Or do they dip into the portal to add a more seasoned insurance policy?
This week has created plenty of questions for Clemson’s roster going forward. And there are likely more coming.
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