CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney believes Clemson found a diamond in the rough with Michael Foster.
The three-star in-state DE, out of Indian Land, was a very late addition to the class, announcing his intent to flip from ECU and signing with the Tigers on Wednesday afternoon, after Swinney had already wrapped up his signing day press conference.
However, the head coach did offer some insight on the final piece of the high school class, insisting that Foster has an extremely high ceiling as a pass rusher.
“He has an incredible motor,” Swinney said. “He is physical, he is heavy-handed. He’s, we think, an elite pass rusher. That is what we see him as.”
As a senior, Foster was dominant, registering 140 tackles, 12.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and four pass breakups. He earned 5A/4A Tri-County Defensive Player of the Year for 2025 from coaches in York, Lancaster and Chester counties and was recently named Region 3-AAAAA Defensive Player of the Year.
Over his final two high school seasons, he racked up a total of 21 sacks and five forced fumbles.
“We just kept kind of coming back to him and coming back to him, and we ended up making a decision to go on him,” Swinney added. “Rosters are different now and all that type of stuff. He is a great guy to take in this class that we think has high-end potential.”
Foster originally committed to ECU back in the summer. However, several schools got in late, including Clemson and West Virginia, with both offering last month. While Foster never publicly decommitted, he announced his intention to sign with the Tigers during a ceremony at his high school on signing day.
While some may be quick to criticize the staff for flipping a kid who was committed to a Group of 5 school, Swinney was quick to point out what happened the last time Clemson took a developmental in-state defensive end.
“Very similar to Jahiem, when we took Jahiem. Kind of like, ‘Well, let’s throw him in the crockpot,'” Swinney said. “I mean, I am glad we got Jahiem. He is a really good player and a guy that is going to play pro ball. Nobody would have said that when he was coming out of Daniel High.”
“It is more than just where they are in the moment. Our job is to project and also do they have the intangibles. That is really how we’ve won for so long around here. I think we have done a great job of finding guys that have the right intangibles, not just the tangibles. And sometimes when we have made mistakes, we have gotten away from that a little bit, honestly.”
Photo by Bart Boatwright