Dabo Swinney has taken plenty of criticism over the years for his approach to the transfer portal, but Clemson stars Peter Woods and T.J. Parker have no problem with their head coach’s transfer portal philosophy.

Woods and Parker appeared on The Pivot Podcast with former NFL safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, who asked the two defensive linemen for their thoughts on Swinney’s approach to the portal.

Woods and Parker defended how Swinney prioritizes recruitment and development, with both believing that even though the Tigers utilize the portal differently than many other programs, they have everything they need to compete for a championship.

“I think, personally, it builds the team. Like obviously, everybody that is on the team, he recruited heavy, so that relationship is already there,” Parker said. “Truthfully, we’ve got the talent to go all the way with it, without using the transfer portal. Because we really didn’t need anything.”

The narrative in the past has been that Swinney refused to use the portal, though Parker noted that Swinney made multiple moves in the portal this offseason. The Tigers, of course, brought in a trio of talented transfers in former Purdue defensive end Will Heldt, former Alabama edge rusher Jeremiah Alexander and former Southeast Missouri State wide receiver Tristan Smith.

“Obviously this year, he used the transfer portal because we had some unfortunate situations where we had high schoolers coming in early, but they got hurt or some people left and we didn’t expect it. So obviously, he’s not against using the portal,” Parker said.

“But he doesn’t have to because we’ve got the talent already there, especially the guys in our room. We can take it to the next level and keep grinding, and obviously get to where we need to get to.”

Woods praised Swinney for how he’s all in with the players he recruits out of high school and fully commits to them.

“I think it speaks volumes about a coach who takes initiative and telling his players that I’m here for you guys and I brought you guys in for a reason. You want to play for a guy like that,” Woods said. “That’s kinda like where we are in our careers. Coach Swinney has invested so much into us in our time there, and the guys who have come in, either before or after us.

“So, it creates a big family atmosphere when you feel like you owe something to a university that has poured so much into you. A lot of times you see college football and a lot of programs get a lot from players — the players don’t really receive anything. But I think in the place that we’re at that we get poured into a lot, and that shows on the field and outside in life.”