ESPN Lists Clemson Among 10 Hottest Portal Teams
By: Gavin Oliver January 12, 2026

ESPN highlighted the 10 squads that have gotten off to the best starts midway through the transfer portal window, which opened Jan. 2 and closes Jan. 16.

Clemson is listed among those hottest portal teams.

At the time the ESPN article was published, the Tigers had landed eight portal players, with all of them coming on the defensive side of the ball — including three defensive linemen (London Merritt from Colorado; Markus Strong from Oklahoma; Kourtney Kelly from West Georgia), four defensive backs (Donovan Starr from Auburn; Elliot Washington II from Penn State; Jerome Carter from Old Dominion; Corey Myrick from Southern Miss) and one linebacker (Luke Ferrelli from Cal).

Since the article was published, the Tigers have added two more portal commitments — defensive end CJ Wesley from Howard, and their first portal commitment on the offensive side of the ball, running back Chris Johnson Jr. from SMU.

Here’s what ESPN’s Max Olson wrote about Clemson’s portal class:

Let’s give credit where credit is due. Dabo Swinney took a lot of grief over the years for his resistance to portal recruiting. The trio of transfers he brought in a year ago — Will Heldt, Tristan Smith and Jeremiah Alexander — all paid off and started games this season, with Heldt emerging as an All-ACC performer. Now, the Tigers are fully going for it this year, signing a strong group of defensive contributors to help get things fixed after a disappointing 7-6 season. Ferrelli was the ACC’s Defensive Rookie of the Year at Cal this season as a redshirt freshman. Carter and Myrick were two of the top safeties in the Sun Belt, and Merritt and Starr are two promising freshmen who were ESPN 300 recruits a year ago. Clemson is off to a good start.

One other ACC team – Cal – is also listed by ESPN as one of the 10 teams that have gotten off to the hottest portal starts. Former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables’ Oklahoma team is also on the list.

The other teams listed are Indiana, Texas Tech, Penn State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Arizona State and Oklahoma State.