Nate Wiggins claims Dabo Swinney hates NIL: 'Ain't going to have a team' without paying

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins spent three seasons at Clemson, before being drafted in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Wiggins recently appeared on the Punch Line Podcast with Marlon Humphrey to discuss his time at Clemson and what it was like playing in the NIL era.

Wiggins signed with Clemson ahead of the 2021 season, before NIL opportunities were an option. He then received NIL in 2022 and 2023, although he claims Dabo Swinney isn’t a fan of it.

“Yea, he don’t do the portal. But he hates NIL too, though,” Nate Wiggins said of Dabo Swinney. “If he don’t pay nobody, eventually they’re going to leave, so you ain’t going to have a team.”

Wiggins added that his agent went to Swinney after the 2022 season and told him to either pay more money or Wiggins would be transferring.

The Atlanta native shared that he also considered transferring from Clemson after his freshman season but opted to stay and play for the Tigers.

“After my freshman season I wanted to go somewhere else,” he said. “Then my mama told me, like, wait another year. Then I had like a crazy sophomore season. Then I’m like ‘I’m just going to stay here and leave next year.'”

While Wiggins claims that Swinney doesn’t like NIL. The Clemson head coach has said several times that he is in favor of players making money for their Name, Image and Likeness, but he would like to see more guidelines.

“There’s no rules, no guidance, no nothing. It’s out of control. It’s not sustainable. It’s an absolute mess and a train wreck, and the kids are going to be the ones who suffer in the end,” Dabo Swinney told ESPN in the spring of 2022. “There are going to be a lot of kids that end up with no degrees and make decisions based on the wrong things. There are going to be a lot of decisions based on short-term stuff, and they’re going to sacrifice the long-term value of education, relationships and connectivity. It will settle out eventually. But, no, it’s not what it was supposed to be.

“The intention is very good. I love the fact that these guys can go make some money on their name, image and likeness if that’s what they want to do. But the way it’s set up right now is definitely not how it was intended. Just like most things, there are always unintended consequences, and unfortunately, the kids will be the ones to pay the price because you’ve got a lot of really young people that are having to grow up really, really fast.”