Making sense of Clemson football's transfer portal losses — and why they don't really sting
When Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei announced his entry into the transfer portal five weeks ago, coach Dabo Swinney could do little more than wish him well in his future endeavors.
“He’s got a lot of great football in front of him,” Swinney said.
The coaches at Oregon State – Uiagalelei’s transfer destination – certainly hope so.
This spring Uiagalelei will be competing with returning starter Ben Gulbranson, who was MVP of the Beavers’ Las Vegas Bowl 30-3 victory against Florida, and highly regarded four-star freshman Aidan Chiles, so it's far from a given that DJ will return to the top of a depth chart.
Uiagalelei is one of 10 players off Clemson's 2022 team to enter the transfer portal. The Tigers lost 11 players in the portal in 2021 and eight players in 2020, but only a small number of those 19 players have flourished with their new programs.
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Clemson has taken its share of hits when it comes to losses in the portal, but the impact on the Tigers’ program has been negligible.
“Guys aren’t patient much anymore,” Swinney said. “That’s the world we live in.”
Indeed. Instant gratification has permeated the sports world to the point that players who are willing to “wait their turn” and invest a few years developing are few and far between.
It’s a challenge to convince a running back who was a star in high school to take a bench seat, even if the players in front of him are more veteran, proven players.
“Sometimes it’s the right thing for some guys to move on, whether they are a graduate or just want more opportunity to play or whatever,” Swinney said.
Such was the case with Kobe Pace, a talented back who played three seasons with the Tigers, but found himself buried on the depth chart behind Will Shipley and Phil Mafah. Pace has joined former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott at Virginia.
Then there are some players who don’t seem to be content anywhere. Five-star running back Demarkcus Bowman, who was one of the gems of Clemson’s 2020 recruiting class, left after two games and transferred to Florida.
He rushed for 81 yards in five games in 2021 and now is bound for Central Florida.
Lyn-J Dixon, who rushed for 1,420 yards and 13 touchdowns in four seasons at Clemson, transferred to West Virginia, but never played a down for the Mountaineers. He transferred to Tennessee prior to the 2022 season, but left after only 18 days with the Vols and has yet to resurface on a Power 5 roster.
Some moves have paid off, however, with running back Chez Mellusi and safety Joseph Charleston foremost among them. Mellusi has rushed for 1,288 yards and seven touchdowns in the last two seasons at Wisconsin while Charleston posted a career-high 52 tackles, including 3½ tackles for loss, in 11 games at Missouri last season.
But for every Mellusi or Charleston, there’s an Ajou Ajou or Taisun Phommachanh. The injury-plagued Ajou played in one game and had two receptions for South Florida last season while Phommachanh appeared in two games at Georgia Tech.
Bottom line? The grass isn’t always greener.
To that end, Swinney admits that he’d like to see more players exercise some patience rather than quickly jump into the portal.
“What’s wrong with a little bit of time? A little bit of development?” Swinney said. “We need to have a crock-pot mentality. The microwave meals are usually not the best ones.”
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Making sense of Clemson's transfer losses — and why they don't sting
