So far, Clemson has lost five players to the transfer portal.
The latest departure was linebacker Jamal Anderson, who went public with his intentions on Thursday.
However, the writing might have already been on the wall with Anderson, who has not played since the Tigers’ loss to Syracuse back in September. At the time, Dabo Swinney said the intent was to try and hold Anderson in an effort to save a year of eligibility.
“We’re going to try to hold him,” Swinney said in early October. “He’s a guy I met with him this spring, and we actually talked about – we hardly played him his freshman year, at all. We really kind of wasted a year, honestly. We talked this spring about, with him, that if it worked out, we would consider redshirting him. And where we were and where they feel like the linebackers are, we felt like we could try to hold him. So, that’s what we made the decision to do with him.”
Anderson is now the second linebacker to announce plans to enter the portal when it opens on January 2. Dee Crayton has also announced plans to enter, and that certainly impacts the depth at the position for next season.
With Wade Woodaz out of eligibility and Crayton and Anderson leaving, the Tigers have three going out, while only one, four-star Brayden Reilly, who was signed as part of the 2026 recruiting class, coming in.
While Sammy Brown and Jeremiah Alexander are the presumed starters, and Kobe McCloud also returning after performing quite well in a reserve role this season, Clemson has three quality players expected back next season. What the team doesn’t have is much depth, at least from an experience standpoint.
Outside of those three guys, you have CJ Kubah-Taylor and Drew Woodaz, who have rarely seen the field in their first two seasons, and Logan Anderson, who redshirted this season after suffering an ACL tear late in his senior season of high school ball. Brayden Reilly was just signed as part of the 2026 class, but won’t enroll until the summer, so he’s likely to need a year.
Assuming there is no more unexpected attrition, Clemson will have seven scholarship linebackers on the roster next season after carrying nine this year. Will Swinney look to the portal to add a more experienced piece to the room? Or will he decide to roll with what he has?
Photo by Bart Boatwright