CLEMSON – As Clemson celebrated its 2025 recruiting class, Dabo Swinney wasn’t interested in talking about decommitments. The veteran head coach was only concerned with the players who ultimately chose to sign with the Tigers.

Over the course of the past year, Clemson suffered seven decommitments from its 2025 class. By the time signing day rolled around, the Tigers had just 15 high school recruits put pen to paper.

“I always say it’s a blessing when a guy chooses us, I pray about it,” Swinney said on Signing Day. “That’s why I don’t worry about guys that we don’t get. And that’s how I look at it. It’s a blessing when a family and a kid says, you know what? That’s where I want to be. Because the type of kids we recruit, they have lots and lots of choices. So, when a young man says, ‘Hey, that’s where I want to be’ it’s just a big, big deal.”

While Swinney went as far as saying this has been an unusual recruiting cycle for Clemson, he does see some stability coming with the finalization of the House Settlement that is supposed to include some future guardrails on NIL.

“I think this has been a, as we all know, an unusual year,” Swinney said. “I’d say the past four years have seen COVID and a lot of changes in college. NIL, portal, you name it. Across the board. It’s probably been the most chaotic time ever for a student-athlete. And I think we’re probably heading out of that and into maybe the best time ever to be a student-athlete.”

Swinney readily admits the class is a little on the smaller size, which he said was due to limited space. He compared it to his very first class at Clemson, when the Tigers signed just 12 players.

That 2009 group, which included Tajh Boyd, helped lay the foundation for the future of Swinney’s program.

“For this group in particular, I think this group right here, a lot like the Dandy Dozen, will prove to be very special,” Swinney said. “I really believe that this is going to be a special group of individuals, especially those guys that have been with us from day one. I mean this class has some winners and great families and it’s awesome to be able to get started with them. And every class that we’ve signed since February of 2009 has won a championship. Except last year’s freshman class.”

“And then the kids that got here this year, so the class of ’23-24, last year’s class and the group that just got here, they’re going to get their shot on Saturday.”

And after the win over SMU last Saturday, that group now has an ACC Championship under its belt.

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