Why didn’t Clemson add a transfer portal punter? Dabo defends decision
Clemson football has just a few question marks heading into 2025.
Punter is one of them.
The Tigers will have a new starter for the first time since 2021 after longtime punter Aidan Swanson graduated. And Clemson’s options behind him aren’t exactly seasoned. One has punted five times in four years. Three haven’t punted at all.
Despite all those factors, coach Dabo Swinney and his staff chose not add a transfer portal punter during the winter or spring portal windows.
In fact, Swinney said, they never considered it.
“So if we’re terrible, y’all can all blame me,” he said Tuesday.
For a team with College Football Playoff expectations, that’s a bit of a gamble at a position that can greatly swing field position. And it’s not like Clemson was resistant to the portal this cycle — the Tigers added pieces at receiver, defensive end and linebacker.
So why no transfer portal punter?
“I’ve got two guys ... I think we’ve got really good competition there,” Swinney said Tuesday at Clemson’s on-campus media day.
In other words, it’s Jack Smith or Will McCune or bust.
Smith has been on scholarship as a backup punter for three years, which speaks to Clemson’s belief in him. He was the No. 5 punter in his recruiting class, per Kohl’s Kicking, and has worked behind Swanson since 2022.
Smith enters 2025 with five career punts in four career games for an average of 35.8 yards, a long of 47 and two punts inside the 20. All of his appearances came during blowouts where Clemson had the luxury of subbing out starters like Swanson.
Also jockeying for starting position is McCune, who’s technically a transfer but in a walk-on capacity. The in-state recruit started at FCS Charleston Southern, appeared in one game in 2022, did not play in 2023 and walked on at Clemson in 2024.
McCune has yet to appear in a game for the Tigers.
“We went and signed Jack because we really believed in him,” Swinney said. “It wasn’t just something that we wished upon a star. We really believe in in Jack Smith, and he earned a scholarship here. It’s his opportunity to go do it.”
McCune, Swinney added, also has a “real shot” to play.
Taking a gamble at a key position
In their lone public “competition,” Smith punted twice for 77 yards (average of 38.5, long of 39, zero inside 20) during Clemson’s April 5 spring game. McCune punted once for 40 yards and landed that punt inside the 20.
Two other dark horses are Robert Gunn III, Clemson’s one-time starting kicker who’s also been working as a punter, and Charlie Reed, a former Clemson soccer goalie who walked onto the football team this summer and can kick and punt.
The late addition of Reed turned heads. Remember, just two years ago Swinney called former kicker Jonathan Weitz off the beach in Charleston and into a starting role vs. No. 4 Florida State after Gunn struggled to open the season.
But Clemson is branding Smith and McCune as its top two punting options.
“They’re very similar in their skillset, and both have really big legs,” Clemson director of special teams Will Gilchrist said Tuesday.
Swinney knows this could open him up to criticism, especially in a season where Clemson returns 16 of 22 starters and 80% of its total production and has been talked up as a preseason top 5 team, ACC title lock and championship contender.
He’s OK with that.
“Jack and McCune, if one of them don’t get it done it’ll be nobody but Swinney’s fault,” he said. “Y’all get the headlines ready. But if they turn out pretty good? Write them, too. It goes both ways. ... I believe in the guys we’ve got.”
