Dabo Swinney compares last year’s freshmen class to this season

When give the chance to talk about the 2023 signing class that Clemson football is bringing in, head coach Dabo Swinney raved. And that’s in no small part because 15 of them enrolled early to practice with Clemson in the spring.

Discussing the class at the end of spring practice, Swinney was asked the difference between the 2022 and 2023 signing classes. And while some of the 2022 signees were on campus early — like current starting quarterback Cade Klubnik — they didn’t come in force like the 2023 class did.

“I mean there’s a good group of guys that will have a chance. And if you look back on last, I mean you saw a guy like [Wade] Woodaz, he got here in June. A lot of there guys, they still got plenty of time to be ready to help our team. But these guys that were here this spring certainly took full advantage of the opportunity to get better,” Swinney said.

Swinney was pressed further on the freshman class and how they’ve apparently brought an invigorating vibe to the Clemson program.

And Swinney credits that in part to the fact that the 2023 signees are a close-knit group.

“The one thing about this class we just signed, it’s probably the closest signing class that maybe we’ve brought in. And when I say close, I’m talking about these guys were truly, groupchat, all that stuff, all year. Just unbelievably close group. And I’ve seen that just carry into everything they’ve done this spring. They’re about their business. These guys came here to win a national championship. That’s just, and I love that about them. They have high goals, they believe in themselves, they’re really talented,” Swinney said.

All things considered, Swinney couldn’t deny the group makes him enthusiastic about the future.

“When you have a group that’s talented like that, that’s really just full of energy and bought in — there’s strength in numbers. A lot of them. It’s not like three guys showed up here, it’s 15 guys,” Swinney said. “These are high-level dudes. But they’re high-level people. You can’t help but grab some enthusiasm from that and it’s very contagious.”

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