Dabo Swinney explains how Hunter Johnson landed back at Clemson

Hunter Johnson was looking for his start in college coaching but after a talk with Dabo Swinney, he’s not hanging up his cleats just yet.

Swinney joked about his remaining eligibility and now the former Northwestern quarterback is back at Clemson for his sixth year.

Johnson signed with Clemson last month, returning to play quarterback for the program where he started his college career as a five-star recruit in 2017. Swinney is looking forward to the added maturity and experience he is bringing to the Tigers’ quarterback room.

“He’s very mature. He’s got a great perspective,” Swinney said during his Signing Day press conference this week. “He’ll work as hard as anybody. He’ll be as prepared as anybody. It’s very rare that you’re going to find somebody to come in here with that type of mindset.”

Hunter Johnson to be “servant leader” for Clemson

Johnson played one season for Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers before transferring to Northwestern where he played the last three seasons. He joins junior QB DJ Uiagalelei who struggled in his first year as a starter. Johnson will also serve as a mentor for five-star recruit Cade Klubnik, who signed in December.

“He could lead us to a national championship. I have no idea,” Swinney said of Johnson. “But he’s coming in here to be a servant leader. He’s coming in here to bring a veteran, experienced mentality and give us some experienced depth that we don’t have. We’ve got one guy that’s played. So here’s a guy that’s played five years of college football.

“He’s been through a lot — adversities, surgeries. All kinds of stuff that he’s dealt with. He’s just an awesome young man. He’s very mature. So it’s exciting. I think it’s going to be great for DJ and for Cade, from a leadership standpoint. So that’s kind of how it all came about.”

In limited time on the field, Johnson was fairly productive as a freshman at Clemson. He completed 21 passes out of 27 attempts and had a couple of touchdowns to just one interception.

Serving as a backup at Northwestern this season, Johnson posted 424 passing yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions. He had a 60.8 completion percentage on his 74 passing attempts as the Wildcats went 3-9 on the year.

The best game of his tenure with the Wildcats came in their season opener versus Michigan State in 2020. In that contest, Johnson completed 70 percent of his passes and threw for three touchdown passes without any interceptions.