4-star lineman's two-hour conversation with Dabo Swinney "hit on his soul"

Barclay gave TigerNet a peek behind the curtain at what Swinney is like when it is time to throw on the sales pitch.

Grayson Mann - Staff Writer - Wednesday, January 29 2025

His words, however, made a massive impact on one priority target on the recruiting trail.

Swinney and Matt Luke visited Chancellor Barclay of Orlando (FL) First Academy following several key announcements from the four-star athlete.

Barclay recently announced that Clemson was a finalist, and Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, and Clemson have locked in official visits with Barclay, establishing the four-star lineman that he’s a top priority.

That urgency was felt from one program on Thursday, as Swinney and Luke spent two hours with Barclay, breaking down everything from the culture, to what he would expect should be committed to Clemson.

Swinney's words certainly resonated with Barclay, who gave TigerNet a peek behind the curtain at what Swinney is like when it is time to throw on the sales pitch.

Unsurprisingly, the Clemson head coach isn’t half bad, good enough to have Barclay relay that the two-hour conversation truly hit his soul.

“Coach Swinney was really putting a factor on how Clemson compares to all these other schools are consistent every year, and how they built their thing on faith and foundation on of course, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Barclay said. “And they're guided by him, and they're guided to be able to do the main things which are to graduate, to not just create football players, but create great men, be able to be disciplined and on and off the field and be able to win a championship.”

“So, those are the four things. Coach Swinney preached, and he was for a while. The meeting was around two hours, but all that information really hit me on my soul and just be able to preach in the name of Jesus, be able to explain how his faith and foundation have gotten him so far, and be able to create and given the opportunity, of course, he was out of Alabama, first to come to Clemson and be able to create a program that's consistent and not out throwing money and stuff like that, but doing it the right way, doing the honorable way.”

Barclay added that Luke gave Swinney the keys to the sales pitch, and let him rock and roll for the duration of the meeting, praising the detail-oriented way that things were presented to him.

The First Academy lineman added that Clemson is a school where he could see himself building a foundation at, finding a spot that is home to strengthen his relationship with his faith and the culture that he could surround himself with.

Swinney made sure that was a factor in his pitch, using CJ Spiller as an example of how people truly fall in love with Clemson and, in Spiller’s case, will come back to coach after a career in the NFL.

As Barclay gears up for a summer visit back on the grounds of the Upstate, he’s excited about getting the full experience of being on Clemson’s campus.

“I would say one thing that's going up is just checking off the final boxes, going through these official visits,” Barclay said. “One thing that my mom and my coaches preached to me is that whatever checks the most boxes is the school that you should be able to pick. Well, what you'll feel great and what God has got, God is going to guide you too. And I feel like going to Clemson, of course, for the official visit is going to really solidify where they stand for me and how it'll be if I was actually there. I am just excited to get up there and get the full visit because there are spring practices, game day visits, there's junior days, but I'll really get the full picture once I take the official visit.”

As for where the Tigers stand right now, they stand at the top, with those official visits being an indication of significant interest.

“Clemson's still a top school with the official visits I've put out, and you can pretty much guess from there that those are top schools for me,” Barclay said. “And Clemson, this course is one of those top schools that I'm excited to officially visit at, be able to have those four schools. As I've built a relationship with Coach Swinney, it's becoming a closer top school for me. So it fits within that top-four, top-five range for me. I’m excited to get back up there for Junior Day, of course, for my official visit.”

Top 10!!! Thank you to all the coaches who have been recruiting me this far. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good!!! @Royals__FB @chadmavety55 @JeffConawayTFA @MoffettMan9 @CoachBroomfield @cmitchell2284 @247recruiting @Andrew_Ivins @Rivals @JohnGarcia_Jr pic.twitter.com/eImg1XzWaR
— Chancellor Barclay (@ChancellorB2026) January 17, 2025

Thank you @ClemsonFB Coach Luke and Coach Swinney for all the love today! Loved learning about the unique Clemson culture! pic.twitter.com/x7MpNSPfOH
— Chris Anne Barclay (@ChrisAnne2817) January 28, 2025