Swinney Wants Clemson Offer ‘to Mean Something’
By: Cameron Burnett April 4, 2024

CLEMSON – Dabo Swinney and his staff offered 7 high school recruits in the 2024 class. It’s a number far lower than other college football powerhouses and Swinney is very keen on why.

It’s how Clemson has won over this past decade. When speaking to recruits, many are quick to mention how exclusive the offer from the Tigers is. Swinney makes a point to offer recruits he believes Clemson has a chance with and he’s been correct.

“I just think we know what we’re looking for. We’re not, all things to all people, I think we’ve offered 55-56 kids so far in this class of 25. Our hit rate is really high. If we offer a kid, there’s a good chance we might get him,” Swinney said.

This is a process Swinney had to go through. That exclusivity came with the brand he and Clemson have built. Looking at the 2025 class, the Tigers have extended 61 offers and landed 11 commitments to this point.

That’s one in six for every offer Clemson sends out and there’s still a handful of players who could commit in that group. Swinney praised his staff Wednesday when discussing the topic and how that extra work in recruiting has made this approach possible.

“I’ve always wanted our offer to mean something. I’ve never wanted to water our brand down and offer kids that aren’t even interested. That’s part of it, I just think evaluation is key, retention is key, development is key and you win with people and that’s how we’ve won here,” Swinney said.

This process has Clemson generally done in August according to Swinney, but there are some extreme cases where he said “you have to address that” and change the schedule. Still, the window for an offer from the Tigers is very small because the staff doesn’t offer freshmen and sophomores.

Instead of throwing it at the wall until it sticks, Swinney and Clemson know what they want in recruiting and built the brand with that pedigree.

“We just always wanted to be slow and right, not fast and wrong,” Swinney said. “We’ve made some mistakes in the past like anybody, you’re never going to bat 1.000 but the thing is, we know the fit here.”