Clemson Football Continues ‘to be very aggressive in how we invest’ - Neff says there are active discussions between him and Swinney on how Clemson Football adjusts to changes in college football

CLEMSON — Several years ago in an exclusive interview with The Clemson Insider, Graham Neff broke down why it is so important they, Clemson Athletics, invest so many resources into having a successful football program.

At the time, Neff was Clemson’s Deputy Athletic Director. Now, as Clemson’s Director of Athletics, Neff still believes in investing a lot into football.

Though Neff invests in all of his athletic programs at Clemson, football is the driver for all things athletics, even more so now with the college landscape changing so rapidly. Neff needs Clemson in position to compete in football at the highest level.

The NCAA-House settlement was filed on July 26, and if it is accepted by a California judge and there are no protests against the actions in the settlement, the world of college athletics is going to change drastically, especially football.

The settlement addresses three primary issues: payment of back damages for claims relating to name, image and likeness (NIL), academic-related awards and other benefits; increased benefits from institutions to student-athletes going forward, including additional NIL opportunities for student-athletes directly with the institution; and eliminating scholarships limits in favor of roster limits.

Beginning in August of 2025, more than likely, players will be paid large amounts of money from the universities thanks to the House Settlement. This is an important time for the Clemson football program.

Other programs, including several in the ACC, are embracing an NFL model, which they believe is what it will take to succeed in the new college football landscape.

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal indicated its their job to identify and bring in the best players possible to compliment the players they already have on the roster, whether that is through the transfer portal or high school recruiting and using the NIL to aid in both.

Dave Doeren at NC State indicated the Wolfpack has already adopted an NFL-type model for their roster.

“It is a very active discussion in the industry,” Neff said. “I know Coach [Dab] Swinney rolled out some of our staff and duty changes recently. I anticipate seeing those evolve and us adding expertise and resources, whatever that may be.”

Currently, Jordan Sorrells is listed as Clemson Football’s General Manager. Now in his 10 ^th season at Clemson, Sorrells duties include management of the prospect evaluation process, organizing prospect visits, prospect communications, coaches recruiting travel logistics and planning and executing recruiting events. This is all according to Clemson Athletics’ official website .

During his tenure at Clemson, Sorrells has held a variety of titles in the team’s recruiting department, most recently serving as Senior Director of Recruiting and Player Development from 2022-’23.

But as Neff indicated, Sorrells’ role is not totally defined, nor is the role of a “General Manager.”

Earlier this week, Alabama hired Courtney Morgan as its General Manager, along with a three-year contract that is reportedly worth $2.5 million dollars. According to the Associated Press , the deal could set the market for what colleges pay to those who lead personnel departments, a job that coaches expect to grow in importance when players are being more directly compensated by schools.

Though a lot of these general managers were once called director of player personnel, similar to Sorrells, those roles will likely not be like that in the future.

“I am not foretelling anything, other than there are very active discussions. We are looking into all outside of college athletics,” Neff said. “Jordan and our staff, we have great relationships with and dialog outside of the college athletic space on that, and Coach Swinney is very active in that.”

There does seem to be a difference in Sorrells’ job at Clemson, and what Morgan will do at Alabama.

Morgan will be tasked with managing the Crimson Tide’s roster while overseeing and directing the daily operations of both the personnel and recruiting departments. He will help organize the head coaches film evaluations and prospect communication while also organizing transfer portal evaluations. Morgan is also tasked with supervising internal brand management for Alabama football.

“Us pulling in all different resources, structure and staff, expect that to continue,” Graham said. “We continue to be very aggressive in how we invest and bring in the expertise and staff to do so.”

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