What Dabo Swinney, Clemson must do to return to CFP National Championship contention

Following six years of six straight College Football Playoff appearances and two national championship wins, Clemson has not made an appearance in the CFP in the last three seasons. Which could very well change with the new expansion of the 12-team playoff this upcoming season which increases the odds of a perennially top-ranked program like the Tigers.

But can head coach Dabo Swinney lead Clemson to another national title win? On3’s Andy Staples is reluctant on the notion, largely due to Swinney’s refusal to adapt to one of the most important new elements that has emerged in the modern iteration of college football.

“Not unless you use the transfer portal, I know I sound like a broken record,” Staples said. “I was late to the party on this, I will credit my friend Ari Wasserman who said this a couple of years ago, that Dabo’s just not evolving fast enough to stay competitive for the national title. They can be competitive in the ACC, but if they want to be competitive for the national title, I don’t know if they’re going to have the depth that they need.”

Swinney has been reluctant to use the transfer portal compared to other powerhouse programs, wanting to keep the main focus on developing players within the program. But in today’s college football depth seems more important than ever, which is hard to maintain when players exit a program through the portal without any experienced players replacing them.

“You’ve seen teams that seem decent, like Georgia last year. Georgia should be deeper than anybody, but Georgia had receiver injury issues that cost them in the SEC Championship game. Nobody’s immune to this,” Staples explained. “And if you don’t use the thing that allows you to build your roster most efficiently, you’re probably never gonna have the right kind of roster to win the national title again.”

Staples believes that even last season’s national champion may not have been crowned without the use of the transfer portal despite internal development and continuity being a major key in Michigan‘s success last year the same way it has been historically for Clemson.

“We talk about Michigan and all the guys they brought back and how many people they developed, but do they win if they don’t have a left tackle and a center that they pulled out of the transfer portal?” Staples asked. “If they don’t have an edge rusher who blows up the last play of the Rose Bowl? Who they pulled out of the transfer portal from Coastal Carolina, like Josaiah Stewart was from Coastal Carolina. So I think that’s the issue, you’ve got to use the tools available to you.”

All of the pieces have to properly fall in place for a team to make a run at the national championship, with the margins seeming smaller than ever in today’s current iteration of college football. But in this modern age, the transfer portal is one of those key pieces and one that may be too valuable to not utilize in order to attain championship success.

“And I understand Dabo Swinney’s reluctance because Clemson’s continuity, their ability to recruit, the way they recruited where a Clemson offer was like a precious jewel. They didn’t blast offers out, you had to earn the Clemson offer and when you committed, you were committed and it created a very good, developmental program. But unfortunately, that was built for an old era and that era doesn’t exist anymore,” Staples concluded.

Last offseason and so far this offseason, 22 players have left the Clemson program through the transfer portal. With Swinney brining in just one player through the portal in return. As his traditional ways of building a program will continue to be tested as the Tigers try to return to national championship glory.