Though Clemson has to sure some things up on defense, as we wait to see who will be the Tigers’ new defensive coordinator, it’s clear head coach Dabo Swinney is making moves to re-establish the program’s position as a national title contender.

Look at the moves Swinney has made in the last month.

First, he went to the transfer portal and pulled an All-Big Ten caliber defensive end in Will Heldt from Purdue. He also pulled 6-foot-5 wide receiver Tristan Smith, who is a fifth-year senior from Southeast Missouri State.

Before making these moves, Swinney has been quiet in the transfer portal world, but now he is making waves and people are paying attention.

Heldt feels a need at defensive end the Tigers desperately had to fill, while Smith adds competitive depth to an already deep and talented wide receiving room.

After the Tigers were eliminated from the College Football Playoff, Swinney and general manager Jordan Sorrells went to work to secure NIL deals for their top players.

Their hard work has paid off, as top players such as quarterback Cade Klubnik, wide receiver Antonio Brown, right tackle Blake Miller, defensive end T.J. Parker and defensive tackle Peter Woods all announced their return to Clemson despite the fact several other big-time schools were trying to pull them away.

Now word comes out that Swinney is not quite done in the transfer portal, as The Clemson Insider reported that Alabama transfer Jeremiah Alexander will visit on Tuesday. If that name sounds familiar, that’s because the Tigers recruited the former 5-star coming out of high school.

The news of Alexander visiting Clemson is just another sign that Swinney is not playing games anymore, and he has not lost his drive to win championships.

Look at it this way, since the end of the 2022 season, he went out and hired Garrett Riley to run the offense and be his new quarterbacks coach. I think the results from the offense this year, and the improvement of Cade Klubnik, have proven that was a good move.

After the offensive line struggled in 2023, Swinney went and landed Matt Luke to fix things on the offensive line. Again, I think the results have spoke for themselves. The offensive line was much better in 2024 and there are signs they will continue to get better in 2025, especially with four starters returning.

In a move to position Clemson back at the top of the college football mountain, Swinney is in search of a new defensive coordinator to help revitalize a Clemson defense that had its worse season in 13 years.

Trust me, these coaching moves have not been easy for Swinney. He let Brandon Streeter go following the 2022 season, a guy who had been on his staff for eight seasons and was a part of two national championships. Also, Streeter is a former Clemson quarterback, who has a team award named after him, a Clemson guy through and true.

That was not an easy decision for Swinney to make, but it was the right one to make.

Last year, he said good-bye to Thomas Austin. Swinney said it was one of the hardest things he has done in his professional career.

Austin is a former Clemson offensive lineman that helped Swinney win the job back in 2008. He later became a graduate assistant and was a part of the Tigers’ two national championships.

Now, he has moved on from Wes Goodwin as his defensive coordinator, as TCI reported on Jan. 1. Again, this was not an easy decision for Swinney, as he thinks the world of Goodwin and wants to see him succeed.

However, Swinney has always said he is going to do whatever is in the best interest of his team and his program. That is his job and he does not take that likely.

So, as Swinney works to find Goodwin’s replacement and likely make some other moves in the program, it is obvious Swinney is not content on what he has accomplished as a head coach. Perhaps, as he likes to say, “the best is yet to come.”

What’s next for Clemson Football? I guess we are about to find out.