How Dabo Swinney's 2024 class might impact Clemson's College Football Playoff chances
CLEMSON – Dabo Swinney has always been an inspired and effective recruiter, but he’s never had a top-ranked recruiting class and likely never will.
His recruiting classes might be best described as consistently good; Swinney’s most recent 14 recruiting efforts have had an average ranking of 11, and that’s been plenty enough to keep the Tigers in the hunt most years.
The bottom line is that Clemson isn’t exactly breathing the rarified air of Alabama and Georgia and Ohio State on the recruiting trail, but Swinney has fueled his program with sufficient talent to produce some rather distinguished groups of Tigers, including two that waved national championship banners in 2016 and 2018.
Clemson’s latest recruiting class checked in Wednesday – the opening day of the early signing period – at No. 12, which seemed rather fitting considering an even dozen teams will advance to the College Football Playoff come next December.
Stars and reputations earned in high school don’t always translate seamlessly to the next level, although give Swinney a 12th-ranked class every year and he’ll like his chances.
His latest class is loaded with potential and appears to possess the pedigree to not only return Clemson to the CFP following a three-year absence but position the Tigers to once again be legitimate contenders for national titles.
Dabo Swinney lands pair of towering defensive ends
Passes batted down at the line of scrimmage? Check.
Blocking the quarterback’s view of receivers downfield? Check.
Dunking on Clemson’s basketball court? You bet.
Those are a sampling of some of Swinney’s advantages after signing a pair of rangy edge rushers to serve as bookends for his interior linemen. Meet Adam Kissayi and Darien Mayo.
“Both of these dudes are 6-7,” Swinney said. “Just absolute giants.”
Actually Kissayi is 6-7½, but who’s counting, right?
Swinney, for sure.
“He’s got what you can’t coach,” Swinney said.
Besides height, Kissayi has no small amount of confidence. The former tight end and quarterback from Palm Bay, Florida, showed up out of the blue at Swinney’s camp last summer and told him he was there to get a scholarship offer.
More help is on the way for Clemson wide receiver room
Clemson’s Wide Receiver U reputation has taken a hit of late. The program that sent 12 wide receivers to the NFL over a 12-year span from 2010 to 2021 hasn’t produced one since – and likely won’t in 2024 given the youthfulness of the Tigers’ talent and the transfer of Beaux Collins to Notre Dame.
Clemson hasn’t had a rangy receiver capable of separating from and wresting the ball away from defensive backs since Tee Higgins, but early signing day yielded a couple of early Christmas gifts for Swinney.
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Swinney will be eager to unleash Bryant Wesco Jr. and TJ Moore. Wesco, who’s 6-foot-2, is a five-star recruit and rated the nation’s No. 6 wide receiver while the four-star Moore is 6-3, 190 pounds and the No. 18 pass catcher nationally.
“They bring everything that we’re looking for,” Swinney said. “They can go up and get it, they’ve got length, they’ve got speed, they’ve got change of direction. They’re ballhawks.”
How transfer portal rejections impacted Dabo Swinney's 2024 class
Clemson offered four offensive linemen in the transfer portal, but were turned down by all four, Swinney said. The result was some late scrambling before signing day.
Clemson’s offensive line is an area of extreme need, and less than three weeks ago, the Tigers had one offensive line commit. But things have been rolling since.
Daniel High’s Watson Young – the first fourth-generation Clemson football player in program history – committed on Dec. 4 after backing out of an earlier commitment to Appalachian State. Ronan O’Connel of Franklin, Tennessee, was a longtime commit, but it was two late additions who grabbed the attention on Wednesday – Elijah Thurman and Mason Wade. The Tigers pulled Wade away from Duke on signing day, much to the delight of new offensive line coach Matt Luke, who will head into the spring with 16 healthy bodies across the front line.
Swinney, meanwhile, will be resetting his transfer portal countdown clock.
Scott Keepfer covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at skeepfer@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ScottKeepfer
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football recruiting rankings for Dabo Swinney, 2024 class
