Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football.

And, more often than not, the result of one game won’t make or break the decision for a prospect. Dabo Swinney’s been on both sides of a Sun Life Stadium beat-down.

The first, Clemson’s 70-33 Orange Bowl loss to West Virginia, didn’t blow up their efforts in February of 2012.

D.J. Reader still picked the Tigers on signing day. Carlos Watkins, Jay Guillermo, Travis Blanks, Zac Brooks and Bradley Pinion all held true to their commitments.

The second was Saturday’s 58-0 dismantling of Miami.

“I think you take the good with the bad. It certainly doesn’t hurt us, that’s for sure, but I think that one game is going to determine who we are, from a recruiting standpoint,” Swinney said. “I don’t think anybody is sitting out there now saying, ‘I’m going to Clemson now, because they killed Miami.’

“I think people are going to come to Clemson because we have a great program. We have a consistent program. We graduate our players. It’s a great place to go to school. It’s the way college ought to be. You can’t have a better environment here than what we have at Clemson.

“Certainly can’t have a better game environment for our guys to play in each and every week. That’s why people come to Clemson. Yeah, winning matters, but one game, I don’t think that’s a factor.”

The players Clemson signs come from variety of backgrounds. Some are highly-rated, national-level recruits that come from powerful high school programs. Others are out of small towns that aren’t marked on most maps and they hardly register a blip on the recruiting radar.

“You can go get a Mitch Hyatt from a North Gwinnett High School and be a great player from a great program that’s got tradition and all that type of stuff, but you also get guys like Stanton Seckinger that came from a small school,” Swinney said.

Clemson’s staff welcomes the opportunity to sign the ready-made prospects. But they’re also not afraid to add the ones that require some time to develop.

“I’m just thinking about how does a guy — does he have the aptitude, the ability, the character, the work-ethic, the will, the desire, the academic ability…to fit our program and develop into a guy that can help us win? I’m very patient,” Swinney said. “And the reason is because I’ve been doing this long enough to know that you’re going to get a guy like Vic Beasley from a small school in Georgia that’s going to leave here as the eighth pick in the draft.
“You’re going to get a guy like Gaines Adams, who played eight-man football and will be the third or fourth pick in the draft. You’re going to get a guy like Barry Richardson from Wando who’s going to come in here and everybody thinks he’s going to redshirt and he ends up starting for you.

“And then I’ve been around to where you see guys like Sammy Watkins. You just kind of add water, shake it up and go. Deshaun Watson — I’ve see the whole deal. Just because Kelly Bryant, developmentally, wasn’t where Deshaun Watson was coming out of high school, that doesn’t mean they’re not going to end up in the same spot. That’s why they call us coach.”