CLEMSON – One call was all it took for Donovan Starr to pack up a year’s worth of belongings from a dorm room in western Alabama and head to Clemson.

Starr, a rising sophomore, officially announced his intent to enter the transfer portal two days before Christmas last December. For two weeks, he sat in the already-liminal post-holiday phase, waiting for the portal window to open. Waiting for a familiar coach’s name to flash across his phone.

Less than 24 hours after ringing in the New Year at midnight on Jan 2, when coaches were finally eligible to contact Starr, the phone calls from Clemson coaches started pouring in. Before the day was over, he was set to become a Tiger.

“I already knew I was coming to Clemson,” Starr said in the spring. “I think the day the portal opened, Coach (Mike) Reed, (Dabo) Swinney texted me, Coach Reed called me, Coach (Tom) Allen called me, and then a whole bunch of coaches just texted me like right at twelve.”

With the calls, Starr, an Auburn transfer, did not even visit Clemson before officially committing on Jan 6. The Brentwood, Tenn., and former Bloomington, Ill., native was the second commit in the Tigers’ 2026 portal class, announcing his intent to join the Tigers just one day after fellow cornerback Elliot Washington committed, and the same day as safety Jerome Carter III.

Unlike the others, however, Starr knew what to expect from Clemson’s campus– no visit necessary. He had seen Sikes Hall, stood on Frank Howard Field, looked up at the 80,000 seats in Memorial Stadium, and received an offer from Swinney during his high school recruitment back in 2024.

When he waited to commit as a high school junior, Clemson offered another corner in his class (who later decommitted) and, swiftly, Starr headed down to Auburn’s Plains to play for Hugh Freeze and cornerbacks coach Wesley McGriff, both of which coached with Allen at Ole Miss in 2012.

“Donovan Starr, we would have gotten him, honestly,” Swinney said. “I really think we were going to get him. He waited too late and we filled up with a guy and then at the end that guy left us and he had already gone to Auburn. So honestly, Donovan didn’t even visit when the portal opened, he just packed up and came to Clemson.”

“He didn’t take a visit. He literally just went home, got his stuff, and came to Clemson,” Swinney continued. “So the first time I saw him was when he was here for school.”

At Auburn, the former four-star recruit and top-ranked prospect in Tennessee played in nine games, getting the majority of his snaps on special teams. When Freeze and the majority of his staff was let go in November, it made sense for Starr to find his way back to Clemson with three years of eligibility remaining. 

So far, according to Allen, that transition has paid off. In the first week of spring practice, Starr was labeled as someone who can “run, run” as well as “gritty,” and “hungry” by the defensive coordinator, who finished by bringing in 10 defensive transfers from the portal.

Starr’s track-star speed and grit did not shock Allen, who called up his old coaching companions to inquire about the defensive back.

“(Starr) is a highly competitive guy,” Allen said. “So, really excited. Once again, I knew some people who were part of the Auburn staff really, really well. I had a chance to talk to them and get honest feedback on him and we were super excited to bring him to our program. He’s a guy that had been recruited here the first time so that helped. But, speed, athleticism, just hunger. He’s a tough, gritty kid and he has definitely flashed and has done some really good things.”

With multiple transfers and at times lackluster performances in Clemson’s secondary last season, one of Allen’s priorities in the transfer cycle was bringing in competitive defensive backs with size, speed, and toughness– three of his main pillars for player evaluation.

Starr, Washington, Carter and other new defensive backfield defenders still have around four months before they can prove themselves on a national stage. However, when the time comes, Starr will bring Power Four playing experience to Clemson’s season-opener against LSU on Sept 5.