Wednesday was kind of a different day for Dabo Swinney.

On one hand, he was welcoming in another top 10 recruiting class to Clemson, a program that has become one of the elite programs in all of college football.

On the other, he was saying goodbye, in a sense, to those 14 graduates who are walking across the stage at Littlejohn Coliseum on Thursday and getting their degrees. Included in that list of graduates are defensive end Clelin Ferrell (ACC Defensive Player of the Year), defensive tackle Christian Wilkins (master’s recipient; ACC’s Jim Tatum Award and Campbell Trophy winner) and offensive tackle Mitch Hyatt (ACC Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner).

The Clemson Athletic Department held its annual graduation program at the West Zone on Wednesday, just minutes after the Tigers’ head coach signed his largest class since singing 29 in 2011. Clemson signed 26 players in all to National Letters of Intent to play football as part of the early signing period.

The early signing period will conclude on Friday, prior to National Signing Day on Feb. 6, 2019.

“I think this is our ninth top 15 class in a row, for whatever that means,” Swinney said. “I do know this, we have become very consistent on the field and off the field. If you go upstairs, we have the graduation thing going on right now.

“We have guys going out the door and you have guys coming in the door.”

Thirteen of Clemson’s 26 signees in this class are ranked among the nation top 300 by at least one of the five major recruiting services. The highest ranking for any of the signees is held by cornerback Andrew Booth, Jr., who is ranked eighth in the nation regardless of position by Rivals.com.

Booth and Frank Ladson are ranked in the top 51 in the nation by all five services. Joseph Ngata is ranked in the top 50 in four of the five. Booth is the highest-ranked Clemson signee by ESPN.com (30th) and Tom Lemming (27), and Ladson is the highest-ranked by Prep Stars (22) and 247Sports (33)

As far as team rankings are concerned, Clemson ranked fifth by Rivals, sixth by 247Sports and seventh by ESPN.com. Final rankings will be announced in February after the second signing period.

“This is one of those days each and every year that your program is measured by,” Swinney said. “We feel like we got better for sure. For me, it is always exciting when a guy chooses to come to Clemson. These guys have many, many opportunities and when they choose to come and be a part of it, it is always special.”

It’s also special when those players eventually graduate.

Swinney says watching his current players graduate and earn their degrees is one of the best days each and every year, but to share it on the same day he welcomes 26 more young men to Clemson, makes even more special.

“I love that whole transformation process that takes place from that high school kid that walks in, to that grown man who is a graduate and who is getting ready to go out into the next phase of his life,” he said.

Here are some notes, courtesy of Clemson Athletic Communications, on Clemson’s 2019 signing class to this point:

• Clemson’s 26 future student-athletes announced on Wednesday represent 14 states, the most for a Clemson signing class since 1989, Danny Ford’s last class. That ties for the most different states in a class on record. The previous high for Clemson under Head Coach Dabo Swinney was 10 different states represented in the classes of 2016 and 2017.
• Swinney has now signed student-athletes from 24 states in his Clemson career as a head coach. This year, he signed players from California, Michigan, Connecticut and Pennsylvania for the first time.
• Since 1972, Clemson has signed student-athletes to football scholarships from 34 states and the District of Columbia.
• This signing class includes six from the state of Florida, the most representatives from the Sunshine State since 2008 when a school-record nine Floridians came to Clemson. This marks just the fifth time Clemson has signed as many as six from Florida in the same signing class.
• Clemson signed eight from the state of Georgia, the most from that state since 1998 when Tommy West’s last class featured nine players from Georgia. The record for signees from Georgia in a single class is 11 in 1985.
• Wide receiver Joseph Ngata (Folsom, Calif.) will be first signee from the state of California to come to Clemson since 1991 when Bobby Forbes signed with the Tigers. In 1995, Dave Coggin signed with Clemson from Covina, Calif., but he never came to school, instead opting to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he played three years. Coggin’s father was a 1965 Clemson graduate.
• Linebacker Keith McGuire (Media, Pa.) is the first student-athlete from Pennsylvania to sign with Clemson since 1995 when current Clemson quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator Brandon Streeter signed with the Tigers out of Gettysburg.
• Quarterback Taisun Phommachanh is the first resident of Connecticut to sign with the Tigers since 1996 when Jason Martinelli and Idris Price signed with West and the Clemson program. Current Clemson All-American Christian Wilkins played his high school football in Connecticut at Suffield, Conn., but lived in Springfield, Mass.
• After not previously signing anyone from Louisiana in 13 years, Clemson has now had a signee from that state in two of the last three years (Travis Etienne in the Class of 2017, Bryton Constantin in the Class of 2019).
• Defensive lineman Ruke Orhorhoro is the first Clemson signee to play his high school football in Michigan since 1975 (Joe Carolan).