In an episode of Always College Football with Greg McElroy, the ESPN analyst weighed in on Dabo Swinney and the transfer portal.

McElroy gave his take on whether Swinney’s reluctance to use the transfer portal has quickly “derailed” what he spent years building at Clemson.

“The key word is ‘derailed’ and I don’t think that they are totally derailed by any stretch of the imagination,” McElroy said. “But I do think his reluctance to use the portal has worked against them a little bit.”

On the positive side, McElroy pointed out that the Tigers have an outstanding freshman class, and perhaps those freshmen wouldn’t be getting as much playing time right now if Swinney had gone to the portal.

“Now, he does have some really talented freshmen,” McElroy said. “Khalil Barnes is an excellent nickel. T.J. Parker I think has a chance as a defensive end to be an elite player down the road. They have a couple other freshmen that they’re really excited about, both offensively and defensively. I mean, Tyler Brown at wide receiver, another true freshman that’s legit.”

With that said, McElroy added that he feels not using the portal is like “tying one arm behind your back.”

“Because you can get immediate reinforcements with physically mature dudes,” he said. “And I’m not saying you have to live and die by the portal by any stretch of the imagination. But just to fortify positions on your roster, it’d be beneficial.”

McElroy looked at Clemson’s roster on offense for example, mentioning how he thinks the Tigers could’ve benefitted from the transfer addition of an impact wide receiver like Florida State’s Keon Coleman.

“I think they’re good at quarterback, even though Cade’s (going through) some growing pains,” he said. “I think they’re pretty good along the offensive line, not bad, especially on the interior. But I think their wide receivers are pretty average, by their standards. So, what if Keon Coleman, for example – the guy that caught the game-winning touchdown against them last week – what if Keon Coleman was playing for Clemson? Would that be a pretty significant impact position for the Tigers? Yeah, I think it would.”

So, while McElroy doesn’t think the Tigers are “totally derailed” by Swinney’s reluctance to use the portal, he does believe Swinney “should strongly consider adopting the portal at some point.”

“Knowing because other teams are getting stronger, whereas they’re kind of staying the same, and that’s I think going to become a little bit more difficult to sustain as they get further and further removed from winning national championships,” McElroy said.