Dabo Swinney on players waiting their turn during portal era: 'It's not rare here'

In the modern college football landscape, it’s rare for a player to wait until they’re an upperclassman to step on the field instead of simply transferring to a school with more opportunity for playing time. On Tuesday, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney weighed in on this trending pattern.

“It hasn’t been rare here,” Swinney said of players being patient to receive playing time. “It is rare in college football, but I think we were second or third in retention last year. It’s not that we don’t lose some guys, but when you compare it to everything else going on, we don’t have many guys leave.

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“It’s not about selling anything. It’s just about having relationships in place, making sure that you continue to help create a vision for guys. I think that’s maybe part of it, and then their opportunity, and then the value of being where they are and developing.”

Since the transfer portal ramped up in 2021, Clemson has lost 34 total players to the portal. The figure is a drop in the bucket compared to other ACC programs such as Louisville, which lost 33 players to the transfer portal this offseason alone.

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In turn, Dabo Swinney is able to put players on the field who are comfortable with his systems. For example, Clemson returned 79% of its production offense from last season for the 2024 campaign. In no coincidence, Clemson is averaging 450 yards per game, the 33rd-most in the country.

Swinney emphasized the importance of a player’s natural development over time.

“Development is huge,” Swinney said. “If you’re starting over all the time, it’s hard to get to that next level. It’s just hard from a developmental standpoint because there’s just a lot.

“If you’re really starting over — which a lot of lot of guys do — it can limit you a little bit, because you never quite get to 103 because you’re always back at 101 because you got to get the basics down of anything before you can really advance.

“I always say it’s like math. You got to learn how to add, subtract, long division, multiply, right? And, you can’t just jump and go to calculus. I mean, you’re not going to be very successful. You’re just not. You’ve got to build the foundation from a long-term standpoint.”

On Saturday, Clemson will kick off its conference play with a showdown against NC State at noon ET. The game will air live on ABC.