CLEMSON — David Pollack has been around college football since his days of terrorizing the SEC in the early 2000s.

After his NFL career was cut short, Pollack joined ESPN where he continued to cover the game as a member of the network’s College GameDay cast from 2011-2023. It was during this time the former Georgia All-American got to know Dabo Swinney, as Clemson dominated the ACC, while winning two national championships and playing for the national crown two other times.

On Wednesday, Pollack took to the airwaves where he was asked about Swinney and the Tigers, especially after his son, Nick, recently committed to Clemson.

Of course, Swinney has been criticized a bunch for sticking to his way of building his program primarily through high school recruiting, instead of giving way to high NIL demands, tampering, and purchasing high-dollar players from the transfer portal, like programs such as LSU, Ole Miss and Miami to name a few.

“Dabo is a guy who is very clear in who he is, and he is not going to compromise that and he is not going to change that,” Pollack said on the SEC podcast Next Round Live. “With that comes what? Okay, if I do not go into the portal consistently and people leave consistently, that is a hard number.’ We are just doing math. If I lose ten or twelve (players) and I am only bringing in guys every year and I am not replacing the guys I am losing, obviously, it is not going to work.

“I do think Dabo has a boulder size chip on his shoulder. I think Dabo Works best with that chip on his shoulder.”

Swinney has already brought up being the underdog this offseason and how everybody is saying Clemson is gone and how he has lost his touch as a coach. In the past, those kinds of statements inspired Swinney, who has been told since the end of his high school career that he could not make it to Alabama, could not walk on at Alabama, could not earn a scholarship at Alabama, could not play for Alabama and later could not coach.

We all know how those stories ended. We also know Swinney was told he was a “D” hire at Clemson and that he would never be successful. Of course, that was 187 wins ago, which include those two National Championships and nine ACC Championships.

“Y’all know him at Alabama, but you also know he walked on,” Pollack reminded the host. “He was not a guy that was highly recruited. You see the momentum in this recruiting class from (him). There are still a bunch of (good) players on this roster. There are still top ten playmakers and receivers in the country (on this roster) and they have defensive linemen that are still elite playmakers.

“They have to figure out the quarterback. I think bringing back Chad Morris, really, really helps them and gives them of an offensive identity.”

Pollack’s message to the podcast hosts and the college football world.

“I do think Dabo has more chapters left,” he said. “I think he is primed for that, and I think he really wants to prove people wrong. I think he has gone about it his way, which I think is cool, and now just continues to make tweaks and changes and adapted to the world a little bit.

“But I do not think Dabo is done.”

Clemson opens the season on Sept. 5, at LSU. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.