Swinney says early signing period is a blessing as recruits and families choose Clemson

Dabo Swinney talks to the media Wednesday morning.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Dec 20 12:55:21 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Head coach Dabo Swinney says it's a blessing that several high school prospects chose Clemson on Day 1 of the early signing period.

Clemson officially welcomed members of its 2024 recruiting class on Wednesday morning upon opening of the NCAA early signing period. The early signing period will conclude on Friday, Dec. 22, in advance of National Signing Day on Feb. 7, 2024.

Clemson signed 22 scholarship players and one preferred walk-on.

“The difference is from the (NFL) draft, you don't get any say or choice in the draft. The cool thing about this day is people have to choose you. That never gets old for me. It's a great day for the Tigers,” Swinney said during a Wednesday press conference. “Again, always a blessing. When a young man and his family said, ‘Hey, yeah, that's what I want to be a part of.’ I think that's really cool. That never gets old to me. I love that part of it.

“I just love the process of seeing it through and the development that comes with it. It’s a blessing. It's just a group I'm super excited about getting started with. I think it's my 15th class. The one thing I will say about the last 15 years, we've been incredibly consistent. With graduation, we've been very, very consistent with winning. We’ve been, I think, consistent in those areas because of our recruiting and how we recruit young people that have come in here. Just, again, a fun day, a great day, a lot that goes into it, and really just always appreciative of our staff.”

Fifteen of the signees are mid-years and will be on campus next month. Of those 15, eight are supposed to travel to Jacksonville and take part in bowl practice (David Eziomume, Sammy Brown, Tavoy Feagin, Corian Gipson, Nolan Hauser, Ricardo Jones, Champ Thompson, and Chase Byrd).

“For the mid-years, I think it'll be a very fun spring as well. But looking at the class, we've got 22 total signees. Fifteen of them are going to be mid-years. I think, again, that's really exciting. Several of those guys are going to meet us at the bowl,” Swinney said. “They changed that rule last year to where guys could come in and get some practice with you and come to the bowl with you the whole day. You can't play but can be a part of the process. That's just really helpful because you go ahead and start getting some guys acclimated and start making the transition with them.

“For some of these guys to be able to spend a little time, like Champ Thompson, for example, he's been here the last couple of days, and for him to have a couple of days or a week with Tyler Davis, that's pretty cool to have an opportunity to be with a guy he's not going to be able to play with, but to be able to learn from for a few days, I think it's great,” Swinney said.

The recruits come from several different states.

“I've got nine different states: Georgia, Florida, Texas, Maryland, South Carolina, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee,” Swinney said. “I think that's my first signee from the state of Illinois. I added another guy there or another state. Really cool. Position wise, offensively, again, we got eight guys, one running back, four offensive linemen, a tight end, and two receivers. Then defensively, we have 13 guys, two d-tackles, two d-ends, three linebackers, three safeties, three corners, and then one kicker. It's a really good group. A lot of these guys have won championships throughout their tenure, and I think that's something that we always look at as far as where they're coming from.”