Desmond Howard on the Problem He Has with Swinney’s Philosophy

Has Dabo Swinney’s inactivity in the transfer portal hurt Clemson’s program?

ESPN’s Desmond Howard weighed in on that this week, evaluating Swinney’s development of players and explaining why he thinks Clemson is no longer a “top-tier program.”

On ESPN’s Get Up show, host Mike Greenberg asked Howard if Swinney has any chance of winning in a major way without going into the portal like most other programs.

“The reason why a lot of coaches, they dip into the portal nowadays, is because they don’t do a good job at developing the talent that they bring in,” Howard said. “You look at some of these programs like a Clemson, and they have high recruiting classes, meaning they’re either in the top 10 or top five. You look at Cade Klubnik, this is his third year in the program, his second year under OC Garrett Riley. You would expect Cade Klubnik, a guy who they recruited, five-star, to at least by year three show vast improvement.

“My problem is, it’s OK if you don’t want to go get a quarterback out of the portal. I get that. You may go get a piece here, like a wide receiver or an offensive lineman or a linebacker, whatever the case may be. But when you bring in this talent of this caliber and we don’t see the progress, the development, then that’s the problem that I have.”

Clemson is one of four FBS programs that brought in no transfers this cycle (Air Force, Army, Navy).

The now-22 ^nd -ranked Tigers are coming off a season-opening 34-3 loss to No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta last Saturday. The three points tied for Clemson’s fewest points scored in a game since Swinney was named head coach in 2008.

“So, he’s adopted this philosophy that I have the supreme confidence in myself and my coaching staff to develop the players that we recruit. That’s fine and dandy,” Howard said. “But when you’re going up against a team like a Georgia, who’s going to be the yardstick by which your team, which your players are measured, then at that point we can see just how well you’ve developed your talent. And at this point, it seems like it’s not on the level of a top-tier program, which is sad to see, because Dabo is a top-tier coach.”

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