Dabo Swinney on Ian Schieffelin joining Clemson: 'He's gonna be massive'

Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin was one of the more interesting transfers in the portal this spring. That’s with him ending up at the same school, different program in going from playing basketball to football for the Tigers.

Dabo Swinney spoke on his team’s addition of Schieffelin, who will be joining the roster as a tight end, while at the ACC Spring Meetings on Monday. He first used it to go at anyone who still thinks he doesn’t use the portal enough with this being as creative as any transfer in their sport this offseason.

“We went to the inter-campus portal too!” Swinney said. “We went to the basketball portal and got the Big ‘Schieff!“

As for him actually playing, though, Swinney thinks Schieffelin is going to work out for Clemson. He already has a lot of the size and skill set in order to play for them this fall. He then has the next three and a half months through the summer and headed into kickoff to best transition some of those aspects from what he did on the court to what he’ll be doing on the field.

“I haven’t seen him yet but, I’m just going to tell you. He’s gonna to be massive,” said Swinney. “He’s gonna go from just a solid-looking guy on the basketball court to, to an elite-looking football player…I think he can spend these next six, seven, eight months, you know, really building a foundation to football technically, fundamentally, mentally, you know, just knowledge-wise. And, I think he can really set him(self) up.

“I really think all of the characteristics translate. You think about a guy that’s been high-pointing the ball with collision balance against other six-seven, seven-footers? Now, all of a sudden, he’s high-pointing the ball against six-three guys, you know. You think about a guy who’s has spent the last however many years moving his feet staying in front of people and now he can do that in pass protection but he can knock the crap out of them, he can use his hands and they don’t throw a penalty or blow a whistle, right. And he doesn’t have to just go set a screen. He can go smash a dude. And, instead of getting a guy open for a jump shot, he’s opening up a running lane for the running back. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to coach him. We’ll see how it all plays out.”

Schieffelin appeared in 134 games, 99 being starts, over the past four years playing power forward for Clemson. He averaged 8.0 points (50.8% FG) and 6.6 rebounds per game in that career, including a career-best season this past year as a senior at 12.4 points (49.5% FG), 9.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists as a selection to the All-ACC Second Team.

Now, this is a commitment that has no pressure on either side. Clemson doesn’t need Schieffelin as they were already going to be a top team next season anyways who should be contending in the ACC and for the College Football Playoff. The Tigers just added him because they could for his fifth year of total eligibility in college, which gives them a unique option with the size, ability, and background to actually help them.

“Honestly, again, as I’ve told him? I mean, we don’t need him to win but I would love to be a part of his story because I really do think that his skills are going to translate,” said Swinney.

“He played football. He played football up until the tenth grade and he didn’t just play. He was the best player and he played quarterback, he played tight end, he played d-end. He was also the best baseball player – played pitcher, first baseman. So this is a high-level athlete and he’s been a highly successful player at the highest level of college basketball and could go play pro ball.”

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of role that Schieffelin will end up in this season on the field. It’s a simple transfer for both sides to try, though, with him walking across the street from playing for Brad Brownell in Littlejohn Coliseum to playing for Swinney in Death Valley.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Swinney. “We’ve got a lot of work to do with him but I just think it’s a great move for him.

“I think this is, you know, just an opportunity he couldn’t pass up and, you know, we’ll see where it goes.”