After signing three players from the NCAA transfer portal last offseason, Clemson and head coach Dabo Swinney took a deeper dive into the transfer portal this year, adding 10 players via the portal in the 2026 cycle.

During ACC Network’s ACC Huddle: Football Schedule Release special on Monday, ACCN analyst and former Clemson/All-ACC offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain weighed in on the Tigers’ 2026 portal class.

“How ‘bout all 10 of those guys that committed to Clemson,” Mac Lain said. “Dabo’s biggest class ever, baby! C’mon, he’s in the portal! He’s doing his thing. And I think there’s some really key pieces there for Clemson, as well. …

“I look at how they reshaped that secondary. They got speed, they got length – things that Tom Allen, the defensive coordinator at Clemson, said we’ve got to have. He went out and got them. He went out and found them in the portal, and then added some key depth amongst the defensive line and some other really key positions. So, Clemson got in. We’ll see how it works. It’s been a fascinating ride for those guys.”

Clemson had several holes on the backend of the defense that needed to be filled, and over the first few days of the portal window, the Tigers were extremely active in filling those holes, adding four key pieces to the secondary fairly quickly — two at safety (Jerome Carter from Old Dominion and Corey Myrick from Southern Miss) and two at cornerback (Elliot Washington from Penn State and Donovan Starr from Auburn).

Over the first week of the portal window, the Tigers were also active in reloading up front, landing several key pieces expected to make immediate impacts along the defensive line. Oklahoma transfer Markus Strong was one of the bigger additions, and one of the more intriguing additions was Kourtney Kelly from West Georgia. The Tigers also signed two defensive ends in London Merritt from Colorado and Howard transfer CJ Wesley. JUCO defensive tackle Andy Burburija is also expected to sign in February after originally being committed to Nebraska before being flipped by the Tigers.

Clemson picked up one portal player on the offensive side of the ball as well — SMU transfer Chris Johnson Jr., arguably the fastest running back in the country.

The Clemson Insider’s Jason Priester contributed to this story