Swinney says NIL hasn't played a major role in Clemson's recruiting

Swinney says NIL hasn't played a major role in Clemson's recruiting.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Feb 05 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2022

Clemson is building a student-athlete branding institute that will exist as part of the Poe Indoor Practice Facility, and it comes at a time with Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) is the hot topic surrounding collegiate athletics. And while some schools, like Texas A&M, are leveraging NIL dollars to bring in top-tier recruits, don’t expect Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney to make the NIL his main recruiting pitch.

The student-athlete branding institute will be a one-stop shopping area for not only education on NIL but also the opportunity for content creation. It’s an important piece of the puzzle, and new Athletic Director Graham Neff said he wants Clemson to be more aggressive in helping their student-athletes with the NIL.

"There are things within our state law and within NCAA guidelines that we can do more aggressively, and that's not to say we haven't... maybe to better say, it's been a very passive topic, not just at Clemson but within the industry, and it's been very market-driven by athletes to this point,” Neff said. “Athletically, at Clemson and in the industry, we've been passive. I think as it's become more competitive, there's been more need and calling within the industry for us to be more active and aggressive for our support, programs, internal engagement with our kids, and community engagement."

During his National Signing Day press conference earlier this week, Swinney admitted that NIL didn’t affect this recruiting class in any major way, and none of the newest commits have announced a deal. Swinney has always pitched family, getting an education, and the culture in the Clemson program to recruits and their families, and that isn’t likely to change.

“We’re never going to recruit leading with NIL,” Swinney said. “That’s an opportunity. We certainly have an opportunity to help anybody that wants to participate and use their name, image and likeness however they want to. But we always lead with who we are as a program and the purpose of this program.”

Swinney said that the Tigers have to educate the recruits and their families on the NIL process, and the program has a great plan in place to deal with that education and any questions that might follow. But Swinney wants to make sure they all understand what is really important.

“At the end of the day, 98% of these guys aren’t going to play pro sports. They have a short window,” Swinney said. “We need to help them maximize whatever opportunity they have. But we’ve got to do it in a way that keeps them focused on the long-term value of education, relationships, career development and all that stuff.

“We’ve got a great plan. We’ve got some really good opportunities for our current team and our future team. There will be things that will be said publicly at the right time, but we’re in a good place.”

In other words, don’t expect the recruiting pitch to change.

“I don’t think many people are going to come here – or at least I hope they don’t – because of the NIL,” Swinney said. “I hope they come here because this is the university they want to be a part of, the program they want to be a part of and people they want to be a part of.”