CLEMSON – Earlier this year, Clemson head coach Shawn Poppie and his staff made waves in the national media by signing ESPN’s 13th-ranked freshman class in the country.

With three top-60 players and another ranked No. 108 in the 2026 high school class, this year’s Tigers team will feature maybe the most talented rookie class in program history.

“Let’s go all the way back to the beginning, I want to build this off high school, right?” Poppie said. “We put a lot of emphasis in this 26 recruiting class that we all have talked about. It allowed us to put a really good class together.”

While Clemson’s freshman class may be the most discussed part of the 2026 team, another noteworthy factor–the Tigers’ transfer class–may be going under the radar. 

After the 2025 season ended with an overtime loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, for the first time in his tenure at Clemson, portal players reached out to Poppie with interest about coming to Clemson. Unlike his first two seasons, he had his pick of transfer players to add to the roster. 

As a result, Clemson also finished with USA Today’s No. 14 portal class in the nation. Just two seasons after finishing with the third-worst record in the ACC, the Tigers’ 2026 roster will simultaneously boast a top-15 portal and freshman class.

“I do like the balance of the incoming freshman class, the returners obviously, and I think we’ve hit a home run again in the transfer portal,” Poppie said. 

Clemson’s portal class includes five new faces – two guards and three forwards. With four of the five players standing above six feet tall, the Tigers will have improved size to work with this season.

“We’ve gotten longer at every single position by multiple inches,” Poppie said. “Some of the ones that looked big last year now look little, and that’s a good problem to have. I think that they’re all going to have a huge, huge impact on what we do.”

The first player Clemson brought in that could have a “huge impact,” is Mackenzie Nelson, a guard who started her career at Virginia Tech. Last season, the Greenwich, Conn., native averaged eight points, and finished second in the ACC with 5.7 assists per game. 

With track star-type speed, Nelson and Poppie are hoping to lead a new charge in playing faster this season.

“I think that, obviously, coming from the ACC, I’ve seen Clemson play, scouted against them,” Nelson said. “The style of play is perfect for me. Getting up and down the court, we got some new pieces this year, some returners. So, just looking to mesh it all together and play super fast. I think that was something that (Poppie) really talked about with me on the phone when I came here. And I think that that’s a great way to play basketball.”

The other guard the Tigers added in the portal is Taliyah Henderson, a former North Carolina Tar Heel. Standing 6-foot-1, Henderson will add immediate length to the perimeter on both sides of the floor.

In her freshman season at UNC, Henderson finished in double figures in each game that she played more than 15 minutes, and matched a career-high 13 points three times. Despite looking at a smaller sample size than Nelson and some of the other transfer players, Poppie saw something special in the Vail, Ariz., native.

“Coach Poppie and the other coaches, they just they just reassured me that I was the player that I thought I was,” Henderson said. “And the dreams and wishes and goals that I had in high school before all the adversity hit, from my knee surgeries to my first year of college, he kind of reassured me with that kind of stuff. I’ve been here for like a week and a half, two weeks, and he’s done nothing but back that up.”

Clemson also added a pair of taller post players in Jenna Lawrence and Edie Clarke, who are both as tall or taller than every player but one on last year’s roster. Lawrence played her freshman season at Arkansas, scoring double-digit points 12 times, and had 12 games with five or more rebounds.

Clarke averaged 7.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and had at least three steals at Saint Mary’s College last season. Both players are from Melbourne, though Lawrence is from the town by that name in Arkansas, while Clarke comes from Australia.

“Edie Clarke, who actually just reported today from Australia, comes from St. Mary’s, where she had a really good sophomore year,” Poppie said. “I think she measured in at six-four and a half without shoes on. Got a lot of length on her, but skilled, right? Can pass, can shoot, can move.”

Finally, the Tigers signed 6-foot-5 forward Yakiya Milton, who played two seasons at Auburn and one at Southern California. The Jacksonville, Fla., native had two games with three or more blocks last season, and showcases a size and physicality that has not been present in Poppie’s tenure so far.

“Kai Milton, who was at Southern Cal playing again behind some really good players, she also came in and measured in just under six-five,” Poppie said. “Long, athletic, and I think that she can be a rim protector, no doubt. She’s one that when she played and had minutes was highly effective a year ago.”

Last year, after winning 21 games, Clemson concluded the season with its best record in a quarter century. Now, with five new highly-touted freshmen and several standout transfers, Poppie and his staff may have an opportunity to take the Tigers to the next level.