The summer noise around Clemson is almost done, but the chatter hasn’t exactly been kind to the Tigers.
With 41 days left before Clemson opens against LSU on Sept. 5 and fall practice set to begin Aug. 6, the final stretch of the offseason is bringing one more round of national opinions. The ACC Kickoff has come and gone, and now the projections, rankings and hot takes are settling in around three big questions: can Clemson rebound from a 7-6 season in 2025, who wins the quarterback job, and where does Dabo Swinney stand in the bigger national conversation?
On the projection front, the early read is cooler than it was a year ago. The ACC’s official preseason poll is still to come, but the national outlets have already painted a less flattering picture for Clemson.
ESPN’s model puts the Tigers fourth in conference wins, behind Miami, SMU and Louisville and just ahead of Virginia Tech. At the same time, Clemson is projected to finish second among ACC teams in overall wins.
Even so, the numbers aren’t exactly screaming breakout season. ESPN’s model says only 7.1 points separate Clemson from 10th-place Duke, and the Tigers are given a 94.2 percent chance to win six games and become bowl eligible. The odds of a much bigger leap are far slimmer: just 2.9 percent for 11 or more wins and College Football Playoff contention.
USA Today’s preseason poll lands in a similar spot, slotting Clemson fourth in the ACC. That poll did have a brighter view of a few Tigers individually, though.
Linebacker Sammy Brown was named the preseason defensive player of the year and earned unanimous All-ACC honors, while defensive lineman Will Heldt and defensive back Ashton Hampton also made the all-conference team. No Clemson offensive player cracked the All-ACC ballot.
Brown, who was an All-American selection in 2025, is also expected to be in that mix again after landing on the 2026 Walter Camp preseason All-American team.
The quarterback race remains unresolved, but that didn’t stop The Athletic from making a call. Clemson has not named a starter for Week 1, and Christopher Vizzina and Tait Reynolds are expected to battle it out once fall practice begins. Still, when The Athletic ranked 138 FBS starting quarterbacks on July 21, it gave the edge to Vizzina.
The redshirt junior came in at No. 53 overall and was placed in the list’s fifth tier, which included new starters, low-ceiling veterans and some of the top non-power conference quarterbacks. One ACC personnel staffer offered a blunt assessment: “He’s just OK,” the staffer told The Athletic.
“Obviously, another year and him finally being the guy and getting more reps isn’t gonna hurt him. But he didn’t do anything where I’m like, ‘Oh my, I’m scared of him.’”
Then there’s Swinney, who has drawn some of the loudest offseason criticism. The most viral shot came from Paul Finebaum during ACC Kickoff, after Swinney pointed to Clemson’s past success at his July 17 press conference in Charlotte. Finebaum pushed back hard on ESPN’s Get Up.
“I'm getting so exasperated listening to Dabo tell us how great he used to be," Finebaum said on ESPN's Get Up. "They're not great anymore.
You don't hear Brady talking about his Super Bowls, or LeBron, or any of the greats ... Dabo is stuck on stupid right now trying to convince us that his program is still legitimate.
It's not."
Finebaum is hardly alone in questioning where Clemson and its coach fit now. CBS Sports gave Swinney a 3.1 “hot seat” rating heading into 2026, which the outlet classifies in the “pressure is mounting” range. That’s a notable jump from last season’s 0.2 rating, which fell under the “untouchable” category.
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