Swinney says smaller signing class reminds him of the Dandy Dozen

Swinney speaks to the media Wednesday (Photo by Merrell Mann).

David Hood - Senior Writer - Wednesday, December 04 2024

CLEMSON – Clemson’s National Signing Day class was buttoned up early and head coach Dabo Swinney says the smaller class reminds him of the Dandy Dozen.

With the opening of the NCAA early signing period, 15 high school players signed on Wednesday to play football at Clemson. The early signing period will conclude on Friday, Dec. 6 in advance of National Signing Day on Feb. 5, 2025.

Clemson’s class includes four members of the Rivals250: RB Gideon Davidson, LB Logan Anderson, DT Amare Adams and OL Brayden Jacobs.

To date, every signing class in Dabo Swinney’s head coaching tenure except for its 2023 and 2024 classes has won at least one ACC Championship. Both of those classes can earn their first ACC title with a win against SMU in this Saturday’s ACC Championship Game.

“Always a great day signing day, and I think we were done maybe around 8:30 or so this morning, had everything all buttoned up. It was really good,” Swinney said. “And I always say it's a blessing when a guy chooses us. I pray about it. That's why I don't worry about guys that we don't get. And that's how I look at it. And so it's a blessing when a family and a kid says, you know what? That's where I want to be. Because the type of kids we recruit, they have lots and lots of choices. So, when a young man says, ‘Hey, that's where I want to be’ it's just a big, big deal. And then it's always exciting to get started to actually work with them.

“You spend a lot of time recruiting and all that, but to actually get a chance to get started working with them is always fun and exciting for the kid. And in this case, we have a lot of midyears, so a lot of these kids will be in here for the postseason preparation and all that stuff and can be a part of it with us. So that's always fun and kind of get a head start. But I will say this, I think this has been a, as we all know, and unusual year. I'd say the past four years have seen COVID and a lot of changes in college. NIL, portal, just you name it, across the board. It's probably been the most chaotic time ever for a student athlete. And I think we're probably heading out of that and into maybe the best time ever to be a student athlete probably.”

Swinney said the smaller class reminds him of his first class – the Dandy Dozen that included Tajh Boyd.

“And for this group in particular, I think this group right here, a lot like the Dandy Dozen, will prove to be very special. I really believe that this is going to be a special group of individuals, especially those guys that have been with us from day one,” Swinney said. “I mean this class has some winners and great families and it's awesome to be able to get started with them. And every class that we've signed since February of 2009 has won a championship except last year's freshman class.

“And then the kids that got here this year, so the class of 23-24, last year's class and the group that just got here, they're going to get their shot on Saturday. So that's a pretty cool thing that very few people can say that every class they've signed has won a championship and these guys have an opportunity to do that this week. And I think this group coming in here certainly will have plenty of opportunity as they go through their PAW Journey as we like to say. But great job by our staff, and we didn't have a lot of spots. We're probably a couple of spots too many right now, but I anticipate maybe a couple of guys moving on. And so have to try to make it all work and eventually it will, I think. But we really hit on what we needed, and we got a great team coming back next year.”