Swinney Pushes Back Against ‘Unintended Consequence’ of House Settlement

Nobody knows the path of a walk-on better than Dabo Swinney.

Being a former walk-on himself, Swinney has always championed the roles those players serve at Clemson, and nobody was more displeased than the Tigers’ head coach when one of the results of the House Settlement was the new roster limits.

Originally, schools were going to be limited to 105 players, with all being on scholarship. All walk-ons were going to have to be cut before the start of the season.

However, the judge overseeing the case rejected that part of the settlement after realizing exactly how many players would be impacted, and a compromise was reached. Any walk-ons currently on a roster, in any sport, were “grandfathered in” and can’t be cut before their eligibility runs out due to the roster limits. So, at least for the next few years, fans will still see walk-on players across the country.

“We will be at 105 like everybody else,” Swinney said during the ACC Kickoff. “I was thankful that some common sense prevailed in this case, in that they grandfathered all those kids everywhere that have been a part of programs that were going to have to be cut. And allow them to finish.”

Originally, Swinney was going to have to cut many of his walk-ons ahead of the season opener on August 30 against LSU.

“That was a really horrible reality,” he said. “That was going to be the week of the LSU game when we had to declare. And you got a kid that has been on your team for four years and he is into his fifth year, or three years and he is a senior, and he’s a great kid and he’s just well-respected and now I got to tell him, ‘Hey, you can’t be a part of the team anymore, even though you pay your own way.'”

Last year, Swinney had more than 130 players on his roster, with 85 of those on scholarship, the most allowed under the old rules. This year, that number will shrink to 120-something, again with 105 of those on scholarship.

What the new scholarship rules did do, though, was allow Swinney to put several of his walk-ons from last year on scholarship for this season.

While Swinney is grateful for that, he also fully realizes that beginning with the current 2026 recruiting class, there will be no more opportunities for high school prospects to walk-on in any way, and he is hopeful that at some point, common sense will ultimately prevail.

“That is great for the kids who have a part of the programs, but it doesn’t help the kid in the ninth grade who is dreaming to walk-on at Clemson one day,” the head coach said. “So my hope is, somewhere down the road, maybe that will change, because I really don’t understand that.

“It was an unintentional consequence of the lawsuit. It was something that wasn’t intended. It is just semantics. It was an unintended consequence, and I am hoping that will get fixed somewhere down the road.”

Photo courtesy of Jim Dedmon/Imagn Images