College football analysts claim Dabo Swinney got "quality" players in Clemson's 2025 class

With the national signing day now behind us, Clemson assembled one of its weakest recruiting classes in years on paper in the 2025 cycle. The Tigers were ranked No. 37 by ESPN, No. 26 by 247Sports, No. 32 by Rivals and No. 23 by On3.

However, the Tigers' class of 2025 emphasizes quality over quantity, reflecting the Tigers’ focus on elite talent and strategic roster building. The program has only ranked low in the cycle due to the low number of recruits it acquired. A total of 15 players signed the letter of intent.

ESPN analyst Craig Haubert sees plenty of quality in Clemson’s 2025 recruiting class. On ESPN College Football Live: Signing Day Special, Haubert reassured fans that they shouldn’t be overly concerned about the class’s ranking, emphasizing that the talent brought in speaks for itself.

“If you’re Clemson fans, don’t freak out. You’re just lower (in the rankings) because you don’t have a lot of numbers in that class, but there’s quality there. There’s so many ways to kind of look at these things and read them.

“But with the new (NCAA 105-player roster cap) and transfers, there’s some classes, if you go through ESPN.com, that have 50 players in it. Clemson’s around 18. You know what that speaks to — that speaks to retention. And this class actually has a few transfers in it. We should have a ‘breaking news’ banner. There’s a few transfers in it. There’s three.”

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List of recruits in Clemson's class of 2025

Chris Denson, QB

Gideon Davidson, RB

Marquise Henderson, ATH

Juju Preston, WR

Logan Brooking, TE

Brayden Jacobs, OL

Tucker Kattus, OL

Rowan Byrne, OL

Easton Ware, OL

Gavin Blanchard, OL

Amare Adams, DL

Ari Watford, DL

Makhi Williams-Lee, DL

Logan Anderson, LB

Jakarrion Kenan, DB

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Clemson’s historical recruitment ranking under Dabo Swinney

Since Dabo Swinney took over as the full-time coach of the program, he has significantly improved the standing of the program in terms of recruiting, which has been crucial to the success he's experienced in charge of the program.

Here's a look at the Tigers’ historical recruitment ranking, according to 247Sports:

2024: 20 recruits (11th)

2023: 26 recruits (11th)

2022: 21 recruits (10th)

2021: 18 recruits (fifth)

2020: 23 recruits (third)

2019: 29 recruits (10th)

2018: 17 recruits (seventh)

2017: 14 recruits (16th)

2016: 21 recruits (11th)

2015: 24 recruits (ninth)

2014: 19 recruits (16th)

2013: 22 recruits (15th)

2012: 16 recruits (20th)

2011: 28 recruits (10th)

2010: 20 recruits (27th)

2009: 12 recruits (36th)