CLEMSON -- Last week we made a guest appearance on a Columbia-based radio show and the host hit on a popular theme by asking about Dabo Swinney's refusal to spend any time in the transfer portal.
There was nothing really wrong with the question; heck, there are plenty of Clemson fans who are wondering the same thing.
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But as is the case with a lot of generalist criticisms or judgments made from afar, the portal topic at Clemson includes some important context that's being missed by those who think Swinney is adamantly anti-portal.
If you take a look around college football, you see a fairly startling trend of starter-quality players seeking greener grass elsewhere.
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Swinney's former defensive coordinator, Brent Venables, is heralded for his quick aggression in the portal once he took over in Norman.
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But there's an important caveat: The portal becomes a lot more important when you lose important players, and Oklahoma certainly did that when its top two quarterbacks (among others) opted to depart.
The months of December and January were jolting for Clemson fans because they weren't used to seeing coaches leave.
But the folks in these parts still haven't experienced something far more jolting than seeing two coordinators take head-coaching jobs, or a defensive line coach following one of those head coaches to become a co-coordinator.
Imagine spending much of a fall seeing the future in one transcendent player, and then watching that player up and leave. Oklahoma fans experienced that when Caleb Williams decided to follow Lincoln Riley to USC. And this time a year ago, current South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler was heralded as the savior in Norman.
At Texas A&M, Zach Calzada joined an exclusive fraternity when he became the rare quarterback to beat Alabama. Two months later, he joined the much less exclusive transfer club and departed for Auburn -- the same Auburn that lost starting quarterback Bo Nix to Oregon.
At Miami, six starters jumped into the portal. Included was stud defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera, who transferred to Arizona State.
Virginia Tech lost its starting quarterback. North Carolina lost a defensive back who started 42 career games when Trey Morrison left for Oklahoma.
At Georgia, Jermaine Burton was going to be a key piece to the Bulldogs' title defense ... until he transferred to the team Georgia beat to win it all.
We could go on.
And on.
And on.
Point is, it seems like an apples-to-(Clemson) orange comparison to point to all the portal raiders out there and twist it into a criticism of Swinney's philosophy.
Because a lot of those programs are losing vital players, and Clemson is not.
Take a look at the Tigers' 11 portal defections since the start of last season, followed by their career starts and 2021 snaps:
Darnell Jefferies: 0, 24
Ajou Ajou: 2, 236
Frank Ladson: 8, 137
Ray Thornton: 2, 74
Kane Patterson: 0, 43
Paul Tchio: 1, 101
Mikey Dukes: 0, 15
Joseph Charleston: 6, 66
Lyn-J Dixon: 1, 37
Jaelyn Lay: 0, 27
Taisun Phommachanh: 0, 43
So that's a total of 20 career starts among 11 players. This reinforces the idea that if we're going to explore Swinney's portal stance in a remotely fair-minded way, we must acknowledge the fact that almost none of the defections were starter-quality players.
Another theme that can't be ignored is the important guys who have thus far remained. One of the reasons Clemson has exceptional depth on the defensive line is because some exceptional depth guys who could be starters elsewhere (Ruke Orhorhoro, Tre Williams, etc.) have chosen to stick around.
And for all the frustration endured within Clemson's receiving corps last year as the group dealt with injuries and substandard passing, Joseph Ngata and E.J. Williams are still right here.
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Of course, there remains the possibility of future portal departures in the coming months. Swinney and his staff certainly don't have their heads in the sand regarding the reality of everything always being fluid in this new age of player empowerment.
But the position Swinney has stated for more than a year is that he's open to the portal if the situation calls for it.
And so far, Clemson's situation isn't like a lot of other situations out there.
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