College football has seen several big changes in the recruiting calendar in the past year or so.

One of the more notable differences is the early signing period being moved up. A year ago, early signing day was on December 20. This year, it is much earlier, coming on December 4, just a couple of days after conference championship games.

Dabo Swinney was asked during his weekly press conference on Tuesday if the day being moved up has changed anything in how he has approached putting the 2025 recruiting class together. While it hasn’t impacted the Tigers in that regard, the longtime head coach did say he was happy that the early signing period is taking place before the fall portal window opens on December 9.

“No, it hasn’t,” Swinney said. “I think it’s great because it cleans it up a little bit, the portal and all that stuff. It allows you to really focus on getting your class signed.”

Clemson’s 2025 class is going to be on the smaller side, as the Tigers currently have just 14 players committed. At the same time, Swinney once again noted that he isn’t expecting to have a lot of spots coming open on the Tigers’ roster.

“We really don’t have a lot of spots open on our roster, so we like the group that we have,” Swinney added. “It really allows you to focus on these kids that are signing early. Then you can turn your eyes and kind of see if you may have some guys leave, or whatever. You kind of see what you need to do.”

However, in this era of college football you always have to plan for some unexpected attrition and with early signing day taking place before the portal window opens, Swinney believes that is a step in the right direction when it comes to being able to manage his roster.

That means if Clemson is subject to some of those unexpected departures, Swinney will have time to address those needs in the portal, if he were to choose to go that route.

This year, the fall portal window will be open for 20 days, with it closing on December 28. There will also be another 10 day window in the spring, beginning on April 16.

Originally, the plan was to do away with the spring portal window altogether, but that idea would wind up being struck down.

“I just think it cleans it up so you can address it in your signing (class),” Swinney said. “Then you can turn your eyes and see if there’s any gaps or any needs that you may have moving forward.”

“I’m really glad that they left it open. Because originally, they were just going to have a December portal window. I am glad they left some time in the spring because otherwise it’s just going to be complete chaos.”

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