Dabo Swinney has blunt reaction to latest modifications in college football roster size: "It's so frustrating"
Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney has made himself a unicorn in the current transfer portal-mad world of college football. The outspoken coach is famously anti-transfer portal, instead choosing to recruit directly from high school like in the olden days.
Most recently at the ACC media days, Swinney had a different gripe. One of the outcomes of the House vs. NCAA case is that programs are not limited in the number of scholarships they can offer during a season. But roster sizes will have a cap (from 85 to 105) with schools pushing for a lower number to help deal with costs.
This will have the knock-on effect of fewer walk-on players getting any game time in their current teams. Dabo Swinney was a walk-on wide receiver for Alabama and while speaking to reporters on Friday, he was incensed at the outcome.
"This is the most united coaches have been in the history of football," Swinney said. "It's so frustrating."
Swinney pinpointed that if he did not get a chance as a walk-on in Alabama, he would never have earned a scholarship after serving on the scout team.
"That (becoming a coach) doesn't happen if [Stallings] hadn't seen me," Swinney said. "I can't even imagine how different things would've been."
Dabo Swinney revealed that the Clemson Tigers were looking at ways of dealing with the new state of things in college football. One of the solutions being explored involves a legacy clause that will push for current walk-on prospects to stay with the team until they graduate.
"We've been trying to figure out how to attack it from lots of angles," Swinney said.
Dabo Swinney makes surprising transfer portal comment
The Clemson Tigers under coach Dabo Swinney occupy a unique niche in college football presently. The team retains most of its best players who rarely enter the transfer portal. On the flip side, Swinney does not recruit from the portal either, famously bringing in zero players from the portal this year.
During an appearance at ACC Kickoff, Swinney made a surprising comment about his ability to recruit from the transfer portal were he to leave the Tigers.
"If I took a job somewhere else, I'd be the greatest portal recruiter ever because half of my roster would be gone, and I'd have to go put it together," Swinney said.
As the college football scenery has pushed out the more traditional coaches like Nick Saban, Swinney seems to be swimming against the tide with his transfer portal stance.