Clemson great Terry Kinard accuses Dabo Swinney of abusive behavior toward son, Jaden, amid transfer

Prior to Clemson’s appearance in the Gator Bowl, Jaden Kinard planned to enter the transfer portal, according to his father Terry, who’s in Clemson’s Ring of Honor. His goal was to play in the bowl game against Kentucky before embarking on a change of scenery.

After Kinard made that decision, though, his father said Dabo Swinney started to treat him differently as part of a “two day public onslaught.”

Terry Kinard shared a lengthy post on Facebook detailing Swinney’s treatment of Jaden, who spent two years at Clemson and appeared in three games this past year. In the post, Terry Kinard said Swinney “purposely belittled Jaden, insulted him and called him names” during practice.

“Other teammates that witnessed this tried to encourage Jaden by telling him to keep his head up,” Kinard wrote. “Many of them, including Jaden, were puzzled as to why he was receiving this type of attention now. It was more attention that Jaden had received from Swinney the entire time that he had been there.

“If Sweeney’s [sic] desire was for Jaden to go ahead and move on without finishing out with the bowl game, then he should have said so. There were so many non-offensive ways to handle that if you are being on the up and up regarding your true intentions.”

Jaden Kinard appeared in three games over his two years after joining Clemson as a walk-on. He totaled one tackle this year in the Tigers’ 48-14 victory over Florida Atlantic. He largely played on the scout team, and Terry Kinard noted that when detailing Swinney’s alleged actions.

“A man’s true character is shown and will come out during the times of forced change,” Kinard wrote. “The landscape of college football is changing. Unfortunately, it appears as though our son Jaden (a scout team player), who had yet to get any real opportunities to perform on the football field, had to bear the brunt of Swinney’s frustrations with the changes. Frustrations that centered around all of those players that were actually on the depth chart that either entered the transfer portal or left with plans to enter the NFL Draft.”

Clemson started out the year rough, but still finished with an 8-4 record to punch its ticket to the Gator Bowl. The Tigers’ streak of 10-win seasons under Dabo Swinney came to an end, although they’ll have an opportunity to pick up their ninth victory of the year Dec. 29 at noon ET.