Dabo Swinney on NCAA possibly eliminating walk-ons: 'That's probably the worst thing I've ever heard'

Long Before Dabo Swinney was a college football coach at Clemson, he was a walk-on receiver at Alabama.

Swinney credits his time playing for the Crimson Tide for helping him get to where he is today.

With recent talk that the NCAA could enforce a roster limit and potentially eliminate walk-on players, it’s no surprise that Dabo Swinney isn’t a fan of the idea.

“I literally just heard that for the first time the other day, and I can say that’s probably the worst thing I’ve heard since 1988,” Dabo Swinney told TCI at the ACC spring meetings. “Of everything that’s happened in my entire career since 1988, that’s probably the worst thing I’ve ever heard.”

Swinney played at Alabama from 1990-92, earning a scholarship after joining the program as a walk-on. He also coached at Alabama for several years, before coming to Clemson as a receivers coach ahead of the 2003 season.

He eventually worked his way up to being the head coach of the Tigers and has had an incredible run of success, including winning a pair of national titles.

“I certainly wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have an opportunity to chase my dream and prove that I could do something,” Swinney said. “That is probably another lawsuit. Everybody talks about lawsuits and all that stuff, that’s probably another one that will be coming down the pipe.”

Swinney added that he understands needing to limit rosters, but he doesn’t believe doing away with walk-ons is the right way to do that.

“You understand roster sizes and things like that. That’s always been the case. But to not have an opportunity for a young person to go to a school that they want to go and go accept the challenge of paying your way and trying to compete at a certain level, that’s truly sad,” Swinney said.

“Hopefully, if that’s in that pot of clay, that gets thrown out. But I don’t know. Who knows. I literally just heard that. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that was last week, and honestly, that would be a really, really sad thing.”

Dabo Swinney and Clemson are coming off of a 9-4 season in 2023.

The Tigers reached the College Football Playoff six straight seasons from 2015-2020 but have failed to reach the CFP the past three years.

Clemson gets an early test this season, facing a loaded Georgia squad in its opener. Kickoff is set for Noon in Atlanta on Aug. 31.