By Will Vandervort.

When he got up this morning, Dabo Swinney sent C.J. Spiller a text message that said, “Nine years ago today you changed Clemson.”

It was direct, to the point and accurate. C.J. Spiller did change Clemson and because he believed in Dabo Swinney and Clemson when most five-star players would not even visited the small school nestled in the Northwest corner of South Carolina, others soon followed.

“I would not be right here if it wasn’t for C.J. Spiller,” Swinney said on Wednesday after signing a consensus top 5 five recruiting class and his fifth straight top 15 class. “One little piece here and one little piece there, but now six years in we do have a track record and we do have some performance. We have a level of consistency that is special.

“So our brand, it is awesome to see it nationally relevant and that has been my goal. I never dreamed of just trying to be relevant in the ACC. That’s important, but we want to be nationally relevant. We want to be a team that is going to be in the mix for the long term and every decision we made has been long term.”

In the long term, the Clemson program has not taken any shortcuts. It has done things the right way and having discipline in its program. It has also graduated its players. Of 118 seniors that have played under Swinney, 109 got their degrees.

Clemson has been a top 10 program in the classroom, a top 10 program on the football field and has been in the top 10 in recruiting.

“The totality of our program over the last six years gives us a lot to sell,” Swinney said. “If we can just get them here, we can have a shot. It has been fun because when they see the Paw, they know it is Clemson.

“Whether they want to come here is one thing, but they want to come see it.”

Since Spiller came to Clemson and had the success he had—finishing No. 6 in the Heisman Trophy race, ACC Player of the Year honors and selected as the No. 9 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft—Swinney has been able to land blue chip players like Tajh Boyd, Sammy Watkins, Nuk Hopkins, Artavis Scott, Mackensie Alexander, Stephone Anthony, Tony Steward and Deshaun Watson.

This 2015 Clemson Class, which ESPN ranks No. 3 nationally and Rivals ranks No. 4, has four five-star caliber athletes as well as 13 four-star prospects. In all, the Tigers have 13 ESPN Top 300 players signed and four of Rivals’ top 50 players in the class.

“When people get on this campus, we have a great shot. It is just special. It just is,” Swinney said. “People say all the time ‘that there is something different about Clemson.’  That’s because it is different. It is different. It is unique. It’s fun. There are a lot of great people here and that is what ultimately separates Clemson.”

Clemson also has Dabo Swinney.

“Dabo Swinney and the staff he is putting together, he is a young Bobby Bowden. That is how much respect I have for that man,” said Dayne Williams, the father of 2015 signee Garrett Williams. “The way he relates to my wife, the kids, the whole environment and the way that he looks at life is almost identical to Coach Bowden.”

Williams should know. He played for Bobby Bowden at Florida State from 1985-’88.

“Coach Bowden, after my father, had more influence on my life as a male than anybody else,” he said. “When you have been around this sport as long as I have and you have seen great coaches and not so good coaches, and you get around the Dabo Swinneys, they turn your head and they leave an impression that I wanted my son to be around. Obviously, he was drawn to that as well.”

Everyone is drawn to Swinney, which is why Spiller came to Clemson and why all those other All-ACC and All-Americans that have played at Clemson since have come, too.

“Everybody just loves Dabo,” said Thad Turnipseed, Clemson’s director of recruiting and external affairs. “He takes over a room. I asked myself when I came here, ‘Can he be strong enough?’ I came from Coach (Nick) Saban, now that is pretty strict and a lot of leaders and Coach (Gene) Stallings, but I was so impressed with Coach Swinney’s leadership ability.

“He is one of the strongest leaders I have ever been around.”