The Clemson football program’s offseason has been better than anybody else in the ACC – and one of the best nationally, according to ESPN.
ESPN recently released conference-by-conference rankings of the offseason for every Power 4 team, as well as a national ranking of the top 10 offseasons.
The rankings are based mainly on three factors:
- Retention of key (non-draft-eligible) players
- Retention of key coaches or staff upgrades
- Player additions, primarily through the transfer portal but also high school recruits
Taking those things into account, ESPN placed Clemson’s offseason at the top of the ACC pecking order.
“The Tigers lead the nation in returning production and potentially made an upgrade at defensive coordinator. That’s a pretty good offseason!” ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote. “The only thing holding them back here is a merely fine recruiting haul. It’s good that Swinney is using the transfer portal now, but he’s still only barely using it.”
Miami is No. 2 behind Clemson, while Duke, Florida State and Virginia round out the top five. Stanford came in last among the 17 ACC teams.
Besides the aforementioned Duke and Florida State, the offseason rankings for the ACC opponents on Clemson’s 2025 schedule are as follows: Louisville (No. 6), Georgia Tech (No. 7), SMU (No. 8), North Carolina (No. 12), Boston College (No. 13), Syracuse (No. 14).
As for the national offseason rankings, Clemson checked in at No. 5 behind Oregon (No. 4), Penn State (No. 3), Texas Tech (No. 2) and Clemson’s 2025 season opening opponent, LSU.
“Coach Dabo Swinney’s aversion to transfers often made Clemson an unlikely candidate for a top offseason,” ESPN wrote. “But this winter, Swinney went to the portal for defensive end Will Heldt and others. Clemson also kept quarterback Cade Klubnik, talented defensive linemen T.J. Parker and Peter Woods and a dynamic group of receivers from the ACC championship team. He also upgraded the defensive staff with coordinator Tom Allen.”
Miami (No. 8) is the only ACC team besides Clemson in the national top 10 offseason rankings.
South Carolina checked in at No. 10 in the SEC offseason rankings.