“Not Good Enough”: Dabo Swinney Joins Alabama GM to Take Subtle Shot at Deion Sanders’ Recruiting Style in Justifying ‘Zero’ Transfers in 2024 Portal

Every college football HC has different recruiting tactics that make or break their program. For Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes, their focus is to recruit those players who have experience in playing college football. Coach Prime previously expressed his desire to pick transfers over high school recruits, saying, “We target mostly guys that’s in the portal.”

Right from joining Colorado from Jackson State, Deion Sanders has relentlessly recruited players in the transfer portal instead of visiting high school prospects. Since joining the Buffs football program in December 2022, he has drawn in 40 commitments in the NCAA transfer portal, ranking seventh in the transfer class. But could his recruiting techniques have a flaw that resulted in only a 4-8 record last season?

Dabo Swinney seconds Alabama’s vision in player recruitment 

According to what Clemson HC Dabo Swinney said as uploaded by SXMCollege on X, “Most of the guys in the portal aren’t good enough to play for us.” Swinney went on to say that there are three types of players in the portal, the ones that are looking for an opportunity to start somewhere, the ones who have already decided where they’re going, and the ones that are just there to see what opportunity comes along their way. As he said in the video, “They’re not playing where they are and they’re not good enough to come and play for us. So, we’d rather take a good high school player… And you develop them.” This recruiting technique is similar to what Alabama HC Kalen DeBoer and GM Courtney Morgan also hold as opposed to Coach Prime’s method.

Courtney Morgan recently revealed to 247Sports on YouTube that “high school recruiting” is what the Crimson Tides focus on. He said, “I don’t believe and Coach DeBoer doesn’t believe in building a team through the transfer portal… Capitalize in the high school recruiting, fill your holes in the portal.” Both Clemson and Alabama seem to have joined forces as they show Deion Sanders a thing or two about powerful recruiting. But despite Swinney’s seemingly fruitful style, his ‘zero’ transfer recruitment faced backlash. 

Dabo Swinney’s ‘zero’ transfer approach faces backlash

Dabo Swinney may have retained 125 out of 127 players after the spring portal window with his tactful recruiting style. But he wasn’t met without criticism despite signing a new 10-year contract of $115 million. After revealing his ‘zero’ transfer approach, he received backlash from fans who expressed their disapproval of his method. 

The Tigers fans slammed the HC’s approach as stubbornness that can lead to the downfall of Clemson in the long run. A fan commented, “That’s the dumbest rebuttal ever. Dabo is the best coach in Clemson history, but this is a dumba** response. His stubbornness will be his downfall.” Both Deion Sanders’ transfer player preference and Dabo Swinney’s ‘zero’ transfer method aren’t received in a positive light by fans. Perhaps, they should try something called the middle ground.