Dabo Swinney is sticking to his guns.

Following last season, with Cade Klubnik heading off to the NFL, the longtime Clemson head coach made the decision to stick with a quarterback room full of inexperience rather than pursue a veteran in the transfer portal.

Heading into the spring, Swinney made it clear that Christopher Vizzina, who was entering his fourth year in the program, was the guy to beat. While Vizzina was a veteran in the program, outside of one start in place of an injured Klubnik, he’d only played sporadically. Second-year player Chris Denson was also expected to compete for the spot.

However, two weeks into spring practice, Swinney was already talking about moving Denson to another position, and true freshman Tait Reynolds was starting to establish himself as a factor in the competition. Denson would eventually move to receiver, as Vizzina and Reynolds battled for the job throughout the summer and fall camp.

Vizzina started the opener in Baton Rouge, a blowout loss to LSU, but Reynolds also got some time. The following week, Vizzina started again but would suffer an injury that ultimately sidelined him for several weeks. The freshman, who basically missed all of his senior season in high school, was then suddenly atop the depth chart.

Knowing how it’s played out, Swinney was asked on Tuesday if he still thought he made the right decision in not pursuing a portal quarterback.

“I do not look back on that kind of stuff,” the head coach said during his weekly press conference. “You live with the decisions you make.”

Since taking over as the full-time starter, Reynolds has experienced his share of struggles leading an offense that has had very little luck when it comes to putting points on the board. The freshman has just one touchdown pass, while throwing three interceptions.

The Tigers are averaging just 21.4 points per game, while Reynolds is throwing for just 156.6 yards per contest.

While the young quarterback, who is clearly having to learn on the job, has been far from the only issue for the offense, some of his freshman mistakes have certainly led to some of the struggles.

Even still, Swinney maintains the staff is going to have to be patient with Reynolds, and that he isn’t second-guessing himself when it comes to not getting some experience out of the transfer portal.

“You do what you think is right. Sometimes it does not work out the way you want,” Swinney added. “I do not have any regret when it comes to that.”