Dabo rips ‘terrible’ NCAA roster limit change, how it affects Clemson walk-ons
Clemson football’s senior day will look a little different this year.
Coach Dabo Swinney says it’s because of an upcoming change to college roster construction that he describes as “the worst thing in my whole coaching career.”
The Tigers will honor a number of traditional seniors and veteran players ahead of Saturday’s home game against The Citadel at Memorial Stadium (3:30 p.m., The CW).
But Swinney on Tuesday said that Clemson will have a “pretty big group” of senior day honorees — as many as 31, per the team’s game notes. That’s because he’s given some additional walk-on players a chance to be honored with their teammates before the NCAA finalizes a new roster cap for football teams.
“We’ve got a lot of walk-on guys that know that this is going to be their last opportunity,” Swinney said. “And they deserve it.”
Next season, college football teams will see significant changes because of roster and scholarship limits put in place as a result of the historic House vs. NCAA settlement, which will clear the way for schools to directly compensate their athletes in a revenue-sharing format.
The proposal, which was granted preliminary approval last month by a California district court judge, includes a roster cap of 105 players for college football teams.
There’s been some confusion about what that means for the status of non-scholarship walk-on players, and it’ll vary by conference. But the end result is going to be most programs having to part ways with at least some percentage of their walk-on players to adhere to the new rules.
“Obviously, we have to cut a lot of guys this year,” Swinney said.
The SEC, for comparison, has decided to institute an 85-player scholarship limit (which matches the current limit) for all league football teams “with an overall roster size to be established by the settlement if it is approved,” per Yahoo Sports.
If the House settlement’s current proposal is approved, that means SEC schools would be able to roster up to 85 scholarship players and up to 20 walk-ons for a total of 105 roster spots.
The ACC, in which Clemson competes, has not determined a formal scholarship limit. But it’s understood that most major conferences will follow a similar structure to that of the SEC.
Swinney has praised the House settlement for the revenue sharing it’ll bring to college sports, which he’s framed as something Clemson football will benefit from, and has also acknowledged how the settlement will improve scholarship opportunities in sports such as baseball.
But Clemson’s coach, a former walk-on wide receiver at Alabama, has decried the rule change for how it will affect players who walk on to football teams without a scholarship, provide depth and occasionally become starters/contributors.
How many players will Clemson cut?
The Tigers have 136 players on their 2024 roster — 85 scholarship players, and 51 walk-on players — and Swinney said the program is anticipating having to cut a “bunch of kids” following the 2024 season to comply with the new roster limit.
Using the SEC’s ruling of 85 scholarship and 105 total players as an example, since the ACC hasn’t formalized guidelines yet: Clemson would need to reduce its number of walk-on players from 51 to 20 by the start of the 2025 season.
That would be a reduction of 31 players, or 61% of the current walk-on group.
“It’s terrible,” Swinney said. “It’s the worst thing in my whole coaching career, what’s going on. But we’ve gotta cut a bunch of kids that have been in our program.”
The end result? Swinney has given any fourth-year walk-on player the option to honored as a senior, even if they have remaining eligibility past the 2024 season. Those players, if they choose, will be able to walk down The Hill at Memorial Stadium individually on Saturday like any other outgoing senior.
“They’ve earned that,” Swinney said. “And some of these kids would be back for their fifth year next year and they’re not gonna have the opportunity to do that. And that’s sad, but that’s the way it is. So we’ve given them an opportunity.”
Although Clemson’s senior day programming and participants are still being finalized, the Tigers currently list 31 players as “potential senior day honorees” for Saturday’s second-to-last home game (which serves as senior day during seasons Clemson hosts rival South Carolina in the last week of the regular season).
Of those 31 players listed, 19 are current walk-ons.
“Those kids, if you’re graduating in December or May you can be honored as a senior if you want to,” Swinney said. “But yeah, it’ll be a pretty big group because we’ve got, again, a lot of walk-on guys that know that this is going to be their last opportunity. And they deserve it.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 2:02 PM.
