Danny Kanell: Dabo Swinney's 'stubbornness' is stopping Clemson from regaining ACC dominance

For more than a decade, the Clemson Tigers ruled the ACC with an iron fist and were synonymous with the Alabama Crimson Tide in terms of the national championship picture. Now, the Tigers are four years removed from their last visit to the College Football Playoff, and that has some wondering, ‘What happened?’

On a recent episode of The Ryen Russillo Podcast, Danny Kanell of CBS Sports dropped in and attempted to answer that question. And the former Florida State quarterback put the spotlight on head coach Dabo Swinney‘s ongoing battle with the NCAA transfer portal.

“What happened is Dabo’s stubbornness; it’s keeping them from regaining their dominance in the ACC and potentially even college football,” said Kanell. “He just will not even look at the transfer portal. Now I know he said, ‘No one’s better than our guys,’ and I appreciate the mentality. He is trying to build up his team and the loyalty of the players that get recruited by Clemson and stick around at Clemson and finish their careers at Clemson.

“That is an antiquated view. What Dabo is trying to do essentially is an NFL team winning through the draft and refusing to look at free agency.”

Kanell uses the NFL example of attempting to compete for a Super Bowl by only building through the draft. While that idea does have some merit, it wouldn’t be optimal to scuttle a whole pool of options to add to your team. When specifically comparing it to the plight of Clemson, it’s not that the Tigers don’t have the talent and are not great at recruiting; it’s more so that they could use an additional piece throughout the roster to help them maintain their dominance.

As Kanell continued, he got more specific, pointing out how utilizing the transfer portal could have helped Clemson in the past and how it could be essential to the team’s championship aspirations in the future.

“He’s right that their talent is elite. He’s got really good recruiting classes [and] still stacks those up,” Kanell said. “But where I think it comes to haunt them are two things: one, at select positions where maybe you missed on a 5-star, and he doesn’t live up to the potential. I thought receiver has been one. But it’s also depth. And with the season expanding, getting to the playoffs, and having more games, you’re going to get attrition where all of a sudden, you could be going from a transfer guy who’s a fifth-year grad transfer with experience potentially stepping in if somebody gets hurt. Or if he gets hurt, you still have a guy that’s younger but maybe doesn’t have to play as much.

“I just think there’s so many different reasons why Dabo should be doing it, and the fact that he’s not is keeping Clemson from achieving their full potential.”

During the conversation, Kanell highlights the Clemson wide receiver room as an area of weakness as of late. He also suggests that Clemson could have greatly benefited from the services of former Michigan State wide receiver Keon Coleman. Coleman opted to go and played for one of Clemson’s biggest rivals, Florida State. And against the Tigers, he would put together a monster five catch for 86 yards and two receiving touchdown performances in the Seminoles’ 31-24 win over the Tigers. In that loss, Clemson’s lone touchdown reception came from running back Will Shipley.

Clemson is still considered a formidable program, just not as much as it was last decade. To start the season, the Tigers are ranked No. 20 in the nation. But if they want to dethrone Florida State while also thwarting the Miami Hurricanes’ attempt to resurrect their program, Swinney might have to strongly consider recruiting players from the transfer portal to help bolster his roster.