Recruiting mailbag: Making sense of Dabo's strategy, early thoughts on Syracuse, UCLA (2024)

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another edition of our recruiting mailbag. Top prospects are busy at camps, official visits are about to be in full swing and this time next year, we may be gearing up for a June signing period. It may be the offseason, but recruiting always keeps us on our toes.

Thank you as always for your questions.

Editor’s note: Questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Can you make Dabo’s anti-portal strategy make sense? — Evan W.

It had been a while since Dabo Swinney made headlines for his stance on the transfer portal, but Clemson’s head coach was back in the news last week.

In an interview with Sirius XM, Swinney ruffled feathers when he asserted that most of the players in the portal “aren’t good enough” to play for Clemson — a puzzling statement considering the Tigers opened the 2023 season 4-4 and won their fewest games since 2010. And it’s clear that several recent transfers have been plenty good enough to play at Clemson, including the ACC’s Keon Coleman, who caught Florida State’s game-winning touchdown against the Tigers in double-overtime at Death Valley.

Swinney also stirred the pot in an interview with the ACC Network when he said that “every player is technically a transfer” and that Clemson “just signed a whole class of guys transferring from high school.” He knew exactly what he was saying, but the internet bit anyway.

Clemson still hasn’t signed a starter since the transfer portal’s inception, and in a perfect world, there are several elements of Swinney’s stance that make sense.

• The Tigers have made it crystal clear to high-level high school recruits that they remain the No. 1 priority. It’s enticing for blue-chippers to know they can come in and compete without having to worry about the Tigers replacing them at any point with a ready-made portal player.
• Clemson isn’t routinely partaking in the often-exhausting transfer portal NIL bidding wars.
• As Swinney said in his interview, Clemson has very little room for transfers after 125 of 127 players stayed on the roster post-spring.

The problem? His stance is no longer realistic if Clemson wants to win national championships again.

The Tigers don’t need to overhaul their entire roster with portal players, but it’s been obvious to anyone who has watched them since their last Playoff appearance in 2020 that they’ve needed a spark at wide receiver and along the offensive line. Swinney’s unwavering loyalty to the high school model has afforded Clemson almost no margin for error when it comes to talent evaluation and development, and his aversion to the portal has given the Tigers no other options. Then there’s the perception around Clemson. Who wants to take the leap and be the first major transfer portal player when Swinney has made it clear how he feels?

It’ll be fascinating to see if Clemson can fight back and return to national prominence or if the Tigers’best days are behind them.

What are your thoughts on Fran Brown’s recruiting efforts at Syracuse so far? — Ed H.

I love it. Syracuse has never been an easy place to recruit, but you wouldn’t know that based on the way Brown and his staff have attacked the trail.

Brown, who came to Syracuse by way of Georgia, learned under Kirby Smart, who learned under Nick Saban — arguably the greatest recruiter in college football history. Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise he’s done so well, but it has been impressive nonetheless given the landscape of college football and the gap between the top programs and everyone else.

Syracuse signed the No. 38 class in the Class of 2024 — a huge improvement over recent classes — despite Brown having just a few weeks to put a group together. The average player rating of 86.93 in 2024 was a noticeable bump from the 84.90 the Orange averaged from 2019 through 2023.

And it’s not slowing down with future classes. The Orange have 19 commits in the Class of 2025, with an average player rating of 86.82. Linebacker Izayia Williams and safety Demetres Samuel Jr. — both Florida natives — are already committed in the Class of 2026 and are on track to become Syracuse’s two highest-ranked recruits in the past 25 years should they eventually sign.

The Orange need to do their part on the field this year behind quarterback Kyle McCord, but I think they’ve got a chance to take a big leap this season.

Faith & Hard work 🎯 pic.twitter.com/JX1sYjtPvy

— Fran Brown (@FranBrownCuse) May 10, 2024

Any thoughts on DeShaun Foster’s start at UCLA?

Foster got the UCLA job five days after the February signing period, meaning he won’t sign his first class until December. It’s too early to make any definitive judgments, but I like the hire from a recruiting standpoint.

Whereas Chip Kelly wasn’t particularly passionate — to be kind — about recruiting, Foster is bringing a fresh perspective to the trail for the Bruins, who haven’t won 10 games since 2014. Foster obviously knows the school and the program well, having starred at running back for the Bruins in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and he will resonate with prospects as someone who played seven years in the NFL.

He’ll need to work with boosters to make UCLA competitive in the NIL space, but he could be a promising up-and-comer whom donors want to get behind. That said, the Bruins have a little bit of catching up to do in the Class of 2025 if they want to be competitive as they transition to the Big Ten. UCLA has just five commits with an average player rating of 87.52.

Hey Grace, love your work! What teams would you say have the best chance to move from “normally 6-6/7-5” to “perennially challenge for the playoff” thanks to their NIL setup? — Peter L.

Thanks for reading, Peter!

Going from around .500 to the Playoff is still quite a leap and could require a multiyear build regardless of how strong a school’s NIL outlook is. But this is a fun question because there’s a ton of different possibilities.

The first team that comes to mind is Miami. The Hurricanes have won eight or more games just once in the past six years but have gone all in on talent acquisition and are landing some of the biggest names in the sport — hello, Cam Ward! Given how aggressive they’ve been in the NIL space, it’d be a letdown if they weren’t competing for ACC titles and a spot in the Playoff sooner rather than later.

Texas A&M is another one. The Aggies haven’t won 10-plus games since 2012 (!) and are averaging 7.7 wins over the past 10 seasons. But they obviously have the resources to compete at the highest level if Mike Elko can provide some stability.

USC theoretically has enough NIL and name recognition to take the next step, as does Florida if both schools can get out of their own way. Texas Tech is the last one that comes to mind. The Red Raiders haven’t historically recruited on par with the nation’s best programs but just signed their highest-rated recruit of the modern era in five-star wide receiver Micah Hudson and should have enough oil money to make competitive pitches to other top prospects to join him.

Hello Grace, what do you make of Lincoln Riley’s recruiting strategy of seemingly punting on recruiting California to focus on getting kids from Texas and the South to L.A.? Does this seem like a dangerous approach to you?

Turning your back on all the talent in California seems risky if you are unable to get 20-25 kids a year to move across the country and then you are left scrambling when all the California kids are committed. This approach has led to Oregon seemingly coming into California and taking whomever they want, which is bad optics already, but if they make it a habit of smoking USC with a bunch of players who grew up across the street from the Coliseum, USC fans will not be happy. — Joseph Y.

USC signed 12 California natives in Riley’s first full class — the Class of 2023 — before signing seven in the Class of 2024. The Trojans also signed a combined seven prospects from Georgia and Texas in the Class of 2024, which speaks to your point about them hitting the Lone Star State and the Southeast as Riley looks to recruit nationally.

I can’t fault Riley for making Texas a priority, considering the immense talent in the DFW and Houston areas, as well as the relationships he formed there from his Oklahoma days. Georgia is also arguably the most critical recruiting state in the country, so he’s smart to dip into the Atlanta area, even if it’s across the country.

But expanding his footprint can’t come at the expense of keeping top talent home. It’s not as if Riley coaches in an area where there isn’t enough talent to fill out his roster. Southern California is loaded with prospects who the Trojans at the very least need to have a seat at the table with. It’s troubling that USC has signed just four combined players from St. John Bosco and Mater Dei — two powerhouses in its backyard — since the Class of 2022 and no Mater Dei players in each of the past two classes.

Part of the problem could have been USC’s struggling defense under Alex Grinch, who didn’t exactly put out an inspiring product. But Riley is responsible for every area of his program. Maybe a new defense will help move the needle against Oregon, which signed 10 California prospects a cycle ago. If not … yikes.

What unique — and not always monetary — things are teams doing to get ahead in NIL? I read a piece by Audrey Snyder where she wrote about Penn State setting up a program to help with housing families of out-of-state players during game weekends because of a lack of hotels in State College. Who leans into this the best and goes above and beyond the money to entice high-level recruits? — Joseph Y.

Audrey is the best and is also one of the funniest human beings in the world. But yes, schools can get creative with their NIL, and Penn State is one of them in this scenario.

I reached out to The Athletic’s beat writers to get a feel for which schools have the most unique deals, and in addition to Penn State, I thought Iowa, Iowa State and Wisconsin had some fun, out-of-the-box ideas.

Per our Iowa guru, Scott Dochterman, Iowa’s “Swarm Collective” and Iowa State’s “We Will Collective” both have agreements with in-state breweries. Exile Brewing in Des Moines gives 20 percent of its sales from the “Swarm Golden Ale” to the Hawkeyes’ collective. West O Beer in Okoboji gives a portion of its sales from the “Ames Lager” to the Cyclones’ collective. Wisconsin’s “Varsity Collective” has a similar deal, according to Jesse Temple. Potosi Brewing Company released the “Varsity Golden Ale,” with 20 percent of proceeds going toward the Badgers’ collective.

Give credit where it’s due: These breweries — and collectives — know their audience.

(Photos of Dabo Swinney, DeShaun Foster, Fran Brown: Ken Ruinard, Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Mark Konezny / USA Today)

Grace Raynor is a staff writer for The Athletic covering recruiting and southeastern college football. A native of western North Carolina, she graduated from the University of North Carolina. Follow Grace on Twitter @gmraynor