AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Everyone knows the story.

But do you know the real story on how Dabo Swinney convinced Ian Schieffelin to hang up his high tops and but on his football cleats?

For the majority of the last four years, Clemson’s head football coach has peppered Schieffelin with compliments here and there through the media about how he felt he could play football for the Tigers if he wanted to.

“I have thrown down some seed for about four years,” Swinney told The Clemson Insider during the ACC Spring Meetings at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island.

But that is not at all how Swinney convinced the former All-ACC basketball star to come and play football for the Tigers.

Someone representing Schieffelin reached out to the football coach prior to the 2025 NFL Draft asking if he could help get the basketball star in front of some NFL scouts for a workout.

“My advice, ‘Hang on. Let’s talk about that,’” Swinney said. “He wanted to talk to me about it, and the guy that reached out to me said, ‘Do you mind if I give him your number?’ I was like, ‘Give me his number, I will call him.’

“That is what I did. I called him. That is what sparked it.”

Swinney told Schieffelin, “I can make three calls, and I promise you all 32 teams will show up top watch you work out.”

And though that was a big deal, Swinney knew there was a better option for Schieffelin, one that Schieffelin, at the time, had not considered.

He could play football for Clemon.

Because of NCAA rules, a student-athlete has five years to play athletics at the college level. If they chose to play four years in one sport, then they burn their eligibility in that sport after the fourth year. However, if they were not redshirted at any point in the previous four years, they can use that fifth year of eligibility to play another sport.

“We can (setup a workout), but here is what is going to happen,” Swinney said. “You are not getting drafted. You will be a free agent. I guarantee you will be signed, as a free agent. You will get into a camp and there is a good chance someone is going to practice squad you for a whole year.

“But the NFL is not very developmental.”

That is when Swinney asked Schieffelin, “How About coming to Clemson?”

“You have a year left. You are coming to a good team. What a cool experience and you do not have the pressure of making the roster.  We can train you, teach you and equip you, as you transition back to football. We don’t need you to win, so it is not like you have to come in here with this weight of the world pressure on you or this or that.”

Unlike NFL trying to make an NFL roster, there is no pressure for Schieffelin getting cut if he has a bad day of practice. He will have six or seven months to really truly develop.

“That should be your goal to get back to football,” Swinney recalled saying to Schieffelin.

Swinney feels the transition should not be too hard for Schieffelin because he has played football before, and he played for a long time.

“It is not as if he has never played the game,” Swinney said. “So, to me, I think that is what you should do. Then you focus on creating a role for yourself. You become great in that role and have an unbelievable experience at Clemson, and you will be a national story.

“All of these pro scouts know who you are as a basketball player. There are a lot of basketball traits that translate to football.”

But that is a story for another day.