History for Clemson, Dabo Swinney: Tigers add wide receiver from transfer portal

Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football team made a little bit of history Monday night with the transfer portal.

The Tigers added a commitment from a transfer portal wide receiver Tristan Smith, who announced his decision Monday in an social media post. The 6-foot-5, 205-pound junior pass-catcher most recently played for Southeast Missouri State, where he had 76 catches for 934 yards and six touchdowns in the 2024 season.

Originally from LaGrange, Georgia, Smith also played two seasons at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas.

Southeast Missouri State competes in the FCS Ohio Valley Conference, a level below the FBS. The Redhawks football team passed for more than 4,000 yards this season, with three or more players at or above 900 receiving yards.

He’s the program’s first offensive skill player addition from the portal since it came into existence in 2018, other than two backup QBs. Smith has one year of eligibility left, according to a social media post.

The move supplements Clemson’s losses of receivers Troy Stellato and Noble Johnson to the transfer portal. They were down to eight scholarship receivers on the roster after those two left.

Smith is also the 16th overall newcomer to Clemson for 2025. The Tigers signed 15 high school recruits to a class that ranked No. 27 nationally earlier this month.

After entering the portal, he also took an official visit to New Mexico State and drew offers from other FBS Group of Five schools as well as interest from a couple other power conference schools (Michigan State, Arkansas).

Smith told the Post & Courier he visited Clemson all day Monday and committed before leaving campus that night. He watched the Tigers practice that afternoon ahead of their first-round College Football Playoff game at Texas and also met with Swinney in his office.

“The Clemson Family is going to get the best out of me. It’s only up from here,” he told the P&C. “There’s not going to be a day where you don’t get 110 percent.”

Clemson makes portal history

Swinney and Clemson have built a reputation in the college football world for their lack of portal usage to help build the Tigers’ roster. As a comparison, in-state rival South Carolina added 20 players from the portal ahead of the 2024 season.

In that same cycle, ACC foe Louisville added a league-high 32 from the portal, according to 247Sports. Twelve other conference teams added 10 or more portal players, with Clemson dead last at zero.

Swinney was most recently asked about the program’s transfer portal strategy while speaking at his December signing day news conference.

“It just depends,” Swinney said. “If if there’s something unexpected that happens. ... Right now, we don’t expect any unexpected. But who knows? Who knows? It’s a good tool to know that you can go get a guy if you need it.”

Clemson’s been involved with transfers outside of Smith, too. Former Purdue edge rusher Will Heldt was reportedly on campus for a visit Sunday through Tuesday and the Tigers (along with LSU and Texas A&M) anticipate a decision from him soon.

Heldt had 56 total tackles and five sacks in 2024 for the Boilermakers.

Chapel Fowler contributed reporting.

This story was originally published December 16, 2024 at 8:24 PM.