Dabo Swinney saw the need to add a defensive end to his roster over the offseason.

While in the past, Swinney has often been criticized for his perceived reluctance to dip into the portal, the veteran head coach wasted no time after the 2024 season ended in looking to the portal to upgrade his roster.

Swinney added three key pieces, with one of those being former Purdue defensive end Will Heldt. The rising junior should provide a major boost to a defensive line that saw its share of struggles at one of the end spots a season ago.

247Sports recruiting analyst Cooper Petagna recently pegged Heldt as the “transfer to know” in 2025.

“Clemson doesn’t do a lot on the portal, but they did this year,” Petagna said. “This is a guy that had 5.5 sacks for Purdue, and the reason that this really fires me up is because when you think about Clemson, it’s arguably the most talented roster in college football coming back. And that is kudos to Dabo Swinney.”

“You got (TJ) Parker, a guy that is probably going to be a first-round pick next year, Peter Woods, one of the most established interior defensive linemen and ends in the country. Now you go to the portal and find a guy that fits you culturally and that is also a dynamic player off the edge.”

Adding Heldt to a defensive front that already features players like Parker, Woods and DeMonte Caphart can only strengthen a Tigers’ defense that is loaded with experience. And Petagna believes Heldt’s impact will be felt as early as the season-opener against LSU.

“Thinking about that LSU game, week one, what have we talked about? The tackles,” Petagna added. “If there is one guy, you can gameplan, you can chip, you can do some different things, maybe to find a way to compensate. But you’ve got three guys that can beat you off the edge in pass rush downs. That makes it really difficult.”

Last season with the Boilermakers, Heldt finished with 56 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and five sacks, and that was while playing for one of the worst teams in the nation. Adding him to a defense already loaded with talent has Petagna believing the sky is the limit.

“For Clemson to get back to one of the most vaunted defensive fronts in the country, and the only way they could do that was to go find a guy like Will Heldt,” Petagna said. “I think Will Heldt is going to be, not an answer, but he is going to be just a huge addition to a team that was already good. They are going to be great in terms of what they can provide in pass rushing.”