It may not officially begin until September, but a very important season for Dabo Swinney’s legendary Clemson tenure ramps up on Thursday when he attends Atlantic Coast Conference Kickoff in Charlotte.
Twelve months ago, the program seemed revitalized, coming off its first College Football Playoff appearance in five years and entering the 2025 season as the No. 4 team in the preseason AP poll.
Swinney had finally succumbed after holding out as the last major coach who wasn’t bringing in any transfer additions. People thought he had the quarterback in Cade Klubnik, the defensive line anchored by Peter Woods and the good vibes back after questions had begun to emerge about if the game had passed him by.
One 7-6 season later — his worst since his second full season in 2010 — those questions are back entering the 2026 season.
After winning two national championships and nine ACC titles, can Swinney return to the Tigers back to that former glory? Or will his college football future end up elsewhere?
Because he made it clear in an On3 Sports interview this summer that he doesn’t see his time as a coach ending any time soon.
“Hell no. I mean, I’m just getting going,” Swinney said. “I’m right about the same age Nick (Saban) was when he got to Alabama. So I’m just getting going, man. I love a challenge, and again, all we’ve done is win.”
Fittingly entering a prove-it year of sorts, Swinney is getting some of the gang back together. Chad Morris, who was his offensive coordinator during the early stages of Clemson’s rise to power from 2011-14, is back as OC after Garrett Riley was fired.
There’s some new-school to this Clemson roster as well, though. Notably, Swinney and his staff have fully embraced transfers, adding 11 portal players this offseason after bringing on their first four last year.
The quarterback will be new, with Klubnik — the program’s all-time leader in pass attempts and completions — gone after appearing in 49 games over the last four seasons. While he drew criticism at times for not being at the level of former Clemson greats like Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, he brought a high level of reliability and experience.
That won’t be there no matter who wins the job, most likely redshirt sophomore Christopher Vizzina, who has been waiting in the wings.
The good news for Vizzina and the rest of the roster is that the pressure should be gone. Clemson isn’t likely to be a preseason top-25 team — which would be a first since 2011.
The bad news is that it won’t be as easy to win the ACC as it used to be with a number of other teams having closed the gap or overtaken the Tigers in the pecking order.
Miami, who Clemson hosts Oct. 3, played in the national title game last year, SMU and Louisville are trendy picks to make ACC noise and Virginia and Duke are coming off ACC championship game appearances.
Once the season finally arrives, Clemson won’t have to wait long for its chance to make a statement that it is back.
The Tigers kick things off Sept. 5 at LSU in Lane Kiffin’s first game in Death Valley.
