Clemson announces hire of veteran NFL talent evaluator as new director of player acquisition

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has turned to the NFL for a key position on his staff. The Tigers have hired Kevin Kelly from the LA Chargers as their new Director of Player Evaluation and Acquisition, they announced on Friday.

Kelly is joining the Clemson program after working as a talent evaluator in the NFL for more than 20 years.

Kelly spent the past 12 seasons with the Chargers, serving as Senior Director of College Scouting for 11 of those years, before moving into a role as Senior Scouting Executive in 2024.

“I’m super excited to have Kevin Kelly joining our staff,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said in a statement. “To be able to add someone with his experience is a great benefit to Clemson. He’s got over 20 years of front office experience in scouting and evaluation of player personnel, so he will bring a wealth of experience and be able to work alongside General Manager Jordan Sorrells, Director of Recruiting Ty Clements and the rest of our staff on player acquisition, evaluation and retention.”

With the changes that are occurring across college football, more and more college football programs are turning to the NFL for hires and following more of an NFL model.

Clemson is the latest program to do so with the hire of Kelly, who played college football at both Miami and Indiana in the 1980s.

In addition to the Chargers, he has also spent time with the Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets.

Dabo Swinney calls out coverage of Clemson using transfer portal in 2025: ‘Nothing different’

In addition to hiring Kevin Kelly as the new Director of Player Evaluation and Acquisition this offseason, Clemson also turned to the transfer portal in a meaningful way for the first time.

The Tigers have secured more commitments from the portal this year than ever before.

What’s caused this sudden shift in Clemson’s portal perspective? According to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, nothing. The Tigers’ bread and butter still lies in the high school recruiting scene.

“Our process is still the same. We’re going to recruit high school kids as long as we can get the best of the best — as long as we can go get the Gideon Davidson’s of the world, Sammy Brown’s of the world, the T.J. Parker’s, Peter Woods’ and Cade Klubnik’s,” Swinney said. “If we have a situation, and we have a gap in our roster or we have kids that leave that all of a sudden create a gap, then you have to address that.”

The three players that Clemson have signed so far include WR Tristan Smith from Missouri State, Will Heldt, a DL from Purdue, and former Alabama LB Jeremiah Alexander. All of these signings correlated to a void Clemson had on its roster at the time.