Clemson football targeting transfer lineman from Alabama, reports say
After missing out on a number of transfer portal offensive linemen last month, the Clemson football team is pushing for a prominent SEC player.
As first reported by Paul Strelow of TigerIllustrated.com, the Tigers have interest in former Alabama center Seth McLaughlin, who entered the transfer portal earlier this week with two years of eligibility remaining.
AllClemsonTigers.com also reported on Clemson’s interest in McLaughlin, noting that the program has already reached out to the veteran lineman, who entered the portal two days after Alabama lost to Michigan in a College Football Playoff semifinal game at the Rose Bowl.
McLaughlin — who is reportedly set to visit Ohio State this weekend and Ole Miss the following weekend — is yet to publicly announce a scholarship offer from Clemson. It’s also to be determined if the Tigers can get him on campus for a visit.
But he’s a natural target for Clemson, given that the Tigers were a finalist in McLaughlin’s recruitment when he was coming out of Buford (Ga.) High School in 2020. He visited campus several times before committing to Alabama.
Clemson is also losing fifth-year offensive lineman Will Putnam this offseason. Putnam, who’s out of eligibility after playing the second-most snaps from scrimmage in program history, just completed a second-straight All-ACC season as the team’s starting center. The team’s center isn’t totally clear heading into 2024.
McLaughlin emerged as Alabama’s starting center in the middle of last season and started all 13 games this year for a Crimson Tide squad that snagged the No. 4 seed for this year’s College Football Playoff after beating Georgia in the SEC championship.
He was the subject of national criticism, though, after having three bad snaps during Alabama’s 27-20 overtime loss to Michigan — including a low snap on the final play from scrimmage, which affected a designed quarterback run for Jalen Milroe that fell short of the end zone.
McLaughlin entered the transfer portal two days later. (Although the traditional portal window closed Jan. 2, players participating in CFP games have a five-day window after their season ends to enter the portal as well.)
He’ll have up to two years of eligibility remaining at his next school because he redshirted one of his four years at Alabama and also has a free “COVID year” of eligibility from 2021.
Clemson has been aggressive in its pursuit of transfer linemen after coach Dabo Swinney fired position coach Thomas Austin after the regular season and replaced him with Matt Luke, formerly the offensive line coach at Georgia and head coach at Ole Miss.
Last month, Clemson prominently engaged with four portal linemen but all of them committed elsewhere. Division II Shorter University’s Alan Herron chose Maryland; Keylan Rutledge of Middle Tennessee State chose Georgia Tech; Addison Nichols of Tennessee chose Arkansas; and Austin Blaske of Georgia (a former player under Luke) chose UNC.
“We were really looking at some guys that had at least three years (of eligibility),” Swinney said Dec. 20. “We felt like that would be a good fit for us. But as I say, they gotta choose you. You can try all you want, but they’ve gotta choose you.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2024 at 10:38 AM.
