Clemson Tigers Football Credited with Best Offseason of Any ACC Team

All Clemson Tigers football coach Dabo Swinney wants is consistency. This offseason, that’s what he got — for the most part.

The Tigers have been seen by many as the top team in the ACC and now that the offseason is fully complete, it seems ESPN’s Eli Lederman, Max Olson and Adam Rittenberg agree.

The trio ranked the offseasons of each of each team in the four power conferences and in the ACC the Tigers were ranked as the best team.

The trio used three categories to rate each team: Retention of key (non-draft-eligible) players, retention of key coaches or staff upgrades and player additions, primarily through the transfer portal but also high school recruits.

Grading Clemson’s Offseason

Connelly rated the Tigers No. 1 and wrote that there really wasn’t much to complain about when it came to Clemson’s offseason.

He dug deep, highlighting the expected losses of running back Phil Mafah and edge rusher Barrett Carter. He’s not sure who will replace the pair. But, the Tigers worked toward that during spring practices.

A year after nearly every college football analyst ripped Swinney for not bringing in a single player through the transfer portal, Connelly praised the Tigers for targeted gets, including Purdue edge rusher Will Feldt. He should play alongside holdovers T.J. Parker and Peter Woods.

The biggest move, naturally, was the hiring of Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen to help fix the Tigers’ leaky defense from a year ago.

To Connelly, it all adds up to the best offseason in the conference.

“The Tigers lead the nation in returning production and potentially made an upgrade at defensive coordinator,” Connelly wrote. “That's a pretty good offseason!”

Among that returning production is Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Cade Klubnik, who wowed coaches and fans alike with his dual threat ability, as he threw for 3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions, while he also rushed for 463 yards and seven touchdowns.

The Tigers are coming off a 2024 campaign in which it won the ACC championship game and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2020.

The Tigers went 10-4 overall and lost to Texas in the first round of the expanded 12-team playoff. Clemson’s biggest offseason addition was defensive coordinator Tom Allen, the respected former Indiana Hoosiers head coach who is joining the program to fix its flagging defense from a season ago.