In an episode of his Always College Football show, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy touched on various spring questions pertaining to Clemson and weighed in on everything from the Chad Morris hire to the quarterback situation to the Tigers’ deeper dive into the transfer portal.

McElroy termed Clemson’s spring outlook as the “Dabo-lution” and says Dabo Swinney’s program is “currently undergoing the college football equivalent of a midlife crisis.”

“And I mean that in the most entertaining way possible,” McElroy said. “Because if you look at where Dabo Swinney’s been the last few years, they’ve kind of been trying to hold back the ocean with a broom. But as of this past cycle, the broom is gone, and Dabo’s out there surfing. He is out there fired up, because they’re talking about a legitimate rebirth. Or maybe this is just a desperate attempt to kind of find the fountain of youth in the portal world. Because if you look at it, they’ve finally embraced the portal.”

Coming off a 7-6 record in 2025 — the second-worst season in Swinney’s tenure at Clemson — Clemson added 10 transfers this offseason, its biggest transfer portal class in a single cycle.

“For years, Dabo treated the transfer portal like it was not something they wanted to engage in,” McElroy said. “Well, now he’s treating it like, hey, this could help us. … Dabo is finally admitting that development is awesome, but having a little more physical maturity, having a little more experience might actually be better.”

Not only were Swinney and the Tigers much more active in the transfer portal this offseason, but Swinney also made a big coaching change on the offensive side of the ball, bringing Morris back on staff as offensive coordinator.

Morris, who previously served as Clemson’s offensive coordinator from 2011-14, replaces Garrett Riley, who spent the last three seasons as the Tigers’ OC before being fired in late December.

The “back to the future” strategy of re-hiring Morris doesn’t come without some questions and concerns, but McElroy says he’s “really optimistic” about it.

“If you walked into practice, you might have thought you were walking through a wormhole back to 2011,” McElroy said. “Because they are no longer gonna be led offensively by Garrett Riley. He was the guy that was supposed to fix everything offensively. Well, they brought back the man, the myth, the legend Chad Morris. And this is like breaking up with your trendy new girlfriend because she listens to music you don’t understand, then going back to your ex from a decade ago because you guys have a great, great rapport built up over the course of time. So, Dabo is betting that this high-octane Morris system is kind of the antidote to an offense that has looked a little bit stagnant the last couple of years.

“But here’s the rub. Morris hasn’t called plays in the FBS since 2020, and this is a scheme that is still very, very high quality — the speed and space scheme. But we’re also curious, has the rest of the world caught up a little bit to what’s been done there by Morris for a while? But I’m really optimistic about the marriage.”

As for Clemson’s quarterback situation, rising redshirt junior Christopher Vizzina — a former national top-50 prospect who served as Cade Klubnik’s backup – entered spring practice in the “pole position” to take over as the starter in 2026.

Swinney himself made the decision not to sign a transfer quarterback this offseason. Along with Vizzina, other quarterbacks on Clemson’s 2026 roster include Chris Denson, who will be a redshirt freshman this season, and former walk-on Trent Pearman, who will be a redshirt senior. Clemson also signed a pair of quarterbacks in its 2026 recruiting class – four-star Tait Reynolds and three-star Brock Bradley.

“And then there’s the quarterback room,” McElroy said. “The Cade Klubnik era is over, and the keys have now been handed to Christopher Vizzina… Vizzina is a former five-star. He’s got the size. He’s got the ownership of this new scheme. But, if you look at some of the other guys that are also in the mix here, he’s not solidified. It’s not done just yet. There is a quarterback competition going on right now. But the Chad Morris offense is gonna require you to push the ball down the field, and if Vizzina for whatever reason struggles, then maybe that opens the door for one of the other guys because they didn’t take a quarterback in the portal.”

McElroy added that Clemson is “in the middle of a bit of an identity shift” and this spring “isn’t all about the Xs and the Os” – rather, “it’s about Dabo Swinney proving that his culture can survive the very things that he used to despise.”

“Because if Chad Morris can’t get this offense to really be rolling by the end of April, then that defense is going to have to play at a high level,” McElroy said. “And guess what’s on that defense? A lot of new faces that were brought in by way of the transfer portal. So how comfortable can they get and how quickly can they get there? That’s the big question here for spring for the Clemson Tigers.”