TCI Recruiting Roundup: Is Clemson Expanding the Pool In 2026?

Dabo Swinney has always wanted a Clemson offer to mean something.

The Tigers routinely hand out far fewer offers than the schools they are recruiting against. In 2024, Clemson handed out just 70. In 2025, so far that number is at 71, and while it isn’t likely to climb a whole lot higher, it will grow by the end of the cycle.

Compare that to rival South Carolina, who offered 226 players in 2024. They have offered 238 to this point in the 2025 class. Georgia was at 251 in 2024 and is at 278 in 2025.

Without question, Swinney’s philosophy recruiting high school recruits has mostly worked. An offer from Clemson is something many recruits covet. At the same time, when you are targeting a much smaller pool of players, when you miss, it can hit a little different. And the Tigers have had their share of misses this summer. More so than normal .

Could that lead to a tweak in the approach for 2026? Possibly. At least to the point that we see the coaching staff widen the net, and hand out a few more offers.

Clemson has already handed out 36 offers for 2026, and they just started offering 2026 prospects in June. On the surface, that might not seem like much of an adjustment, but if you dig a little deeper, there are what look like some subtle changes in the approach.

For example, the Tigers have only offered seven receivers total in the 2025 class. Although, if you count Marquise Henderson, who was taken as an ATH and could end up at WR, that would be eight. They’ve already offered six in 2026.

In 2025, they’ve offered 17 offensive linemen. They handed out 10 to 2026 recruits last month alone.

While it’s certainly not some massive shift in how Clemson goes about doing things, it does appear the net might be widened in the 2026 recruiting cycle. At least at some positions.

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