Smart Says This Narrative Surrounding Swinney 'Much Ado About Nothing'

Dabo Swinney has been heavily criticized by many in the media for his philosophy on recruiting the transfer portal.

While Swinney and the Tigers made a run at a handful of offensive linemen in the portal after last season, they failed to land any of the targets, leaving Clemson as the only Power-4 school not to sign a transfer for the 2024 season.

Ahead of the season-opening matchup between No. 1 Georgia and No. 14 Clemson, Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart was asked about Swinney’s portal strategy and had some pretty interesting comments.

“Yeah I think that’s much ado about nothing,” Smart said. “You have who you have, right? So in the spring you have I’m going to guess 90, 95 percent of your roster. You might pick up some after that. I think everybody makes a big deal about that.”

While Smart has routinely been able to plug holes through the portal, he isn’t one of those coaches that tries to overhaul his roster every offseason with transfers. In fact, like Swinney, Smart said he prefers to focus on high school recruiting and development.

“I’m like Dabo. If I could keep my entire roster my roster, I’d be all for keeping my roster my roster,” Smart added. “I believe in the kids we sign, I believe in the kids we recruit. I want to grow them to get better. It’s not realistic to think you’re going to keep all your players right now. What is realistic you need to be operating with as much depth as possible and it’s made it tougher to do that.”

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