Dabo Swinney weighs in on portal QB possibility, signing class
CLEMSON — Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney just visited with the media to discuss early signing day and other topics.
A few of the more notable items:
— Swinney went into more detail with his thoughts on pursuing a portal quarterback.
He indicated that he’s standing pat unless there’s attrition at quarterback from this point.
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“Who knows?” he said. “Guys may change their decision. We may have somebody leave. I have no idea. I only focus on the guys that are here. We just signed two quarterbacks, and we have two on the roster. All of them want to be the guy. We’ll see what happens.”
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He said signee Tait Reynolds has decided not to play baseball with the Tigers next spring because he wants to focus fully on football.
“He wants to come and compete right away.”
Christopher Vizzina is the heir apparent to Cade Klubnik.
“He’s been waiting for his time, and now is his time. We only offered two quarterbacks in his class, him and Arch Manning.”
He also said Chris Denson “didn’t come here to just stand on the sideline.”
“He came here to compete. So let’s go compete.”
— Swinney said this class reminds him a lot of the 2011 class, because both stuck together in the midst of the Tigers struggling on the football field (the 2010 team finished 6-7).
The 2011 class, which included Sammy Watkins, ended up being transformative as Swinney took his program to a higher level.
“These guys stuck with us amid the worst season we’ve had in 15 years. There was not one person in this class that didn’t face getting talked out of it. The noise is deafening. So much negative stuff. Everybody’s calling you and ‘You don’t need to do this, bla, bla, bla, bla.’
“The same thing happened with the 2011 signing class. It wasn’t real sexy to come to Clemson. I went back and looked at my notes from that class. I said then that this group is going to come in here and change Clemson. I feel the same way about this group. Because this group right here, these 19 guys who signed up to play for the Tigers despite everybody trying to talk them out of coming, is going to be a special group. They bring talent. They bring character. And they bring commitment. These 19 guys are the epitome of commitment. They could’ve gone wherever they wanted to go.
“That’s how you win championships.”
Fifteen of the signees are mid-year enrollees.
— He said Reynolds is “one of the most unique guys I’ve ever recruited.”
He said Reynolds could play baseball long-term but football is his focus right now.
He said Reynolds is still limited after tearing his hamstring earlier this year.
He said quarterback Brock Bradley is “Baker Mayfield-ish.”
— Swinney said receivers coach Tyler Grisham “killed it.”
“He’s done an amazing job recruiting the room and developing these guys. We knocked it out of the park. Just like we got Sammy Watkins after that 2010 season, getting Naeem Burroughs out of Florida is similar.”
— On the offensive line signees: “We got six dudes rolling in here.”
Said a lot of people tried to talk them out of coming to Clemson.
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Said Matt Luke put together an elite OL class. He had a full cycle to go out and recruit while also understanding Clemson’s program.
Adam Guthrie is the only OL who won’t be enrolling early.
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— He said DB Polo Anderson is similar to Ashton Hampton and can do “three or four different type jobs within the structure of our defense.”
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