Dabo Swinney on the expected increase of scholarships in college football

Dabo Swinney’s press conference during the 2024 ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte on Thursday had an interesting topic brought up, one that Swinney isn’t a fan of.

The long time Clemson head coach was asked about his thoughts on the proposals for expanded rosters sizes and scholarships. Form 85 scholarships to 105 is a big jump and it effects things more than people realize as the walk-ons are the ones who suffer the most from this.

“The crazy thing is there’s not many coaches that want 105 scholarships. We want to keep our walk-ons,” Swinney said. “It’s hard to manage that many guys, and when you have that many guys on scholarship… You think you’ve got transfers now? You wait till that number gets there, it’s gonna change a lot of things.”

“It’s a really sad thing to me. We’re going to play more games than we’ve ever played, practice more than we’ve ever played, finish longer than we’ve ever played, and we’re going to have the smallest roster we’ve ever had,” he said. “Again, it’s not like they said, ‘Hey, no walk-ons’ – that’s just what happened when it was settled, that you can’t limit scholarships anymore.”

Swinney is worried about managing a larger roster, stressing how important walk-ons are. He thinks having more scholarship players will lead to even more transfers, which could mess with team dynamics and player management.

Swinney is also sad about the changes in college football. With more games, longer practices, and longer seasons, he’s frustrated that rosters are now smaller than ever. Even though there’s no official ban on walk-ons, the new scholarship limits have cut down their numbers, changing the team makeup.