Dabo Swinney recalls what it took to turn signing day into a Clemson family affair

Clemson's juggling act regarding some late in the process offers and some unexpected available scholarships helped turn Wednesday's NCAA National Signing Day into quite the family affair.

Four of the eight new signees the Tigers added to the December haul of 12 recruits have family ties to the program, and all but one came during Dabo Swinney's tenure as coach. Clemson previously added Greenville High School tight end Josh Sapp last month, the son of former Clemson linebacker Patrick Sapp.

Swinney appeared to be reveling in describing some of the unique twists and turns it took to land these legacy players.

Alabama wide receiver Cole Turner only had one other offer from Buffalo according to 247Sports and was listed just 1,390th overall and 182nd at his position according to that same site's composite rankings. Clemson signed two elite receivers in the early period -- Adam Randall and Antonio Williams -- but Swinney is hoping lightning can strike twice.

When he offered a scholarship to Cole Turner's brother, safety Nolan Turner, it was assumed by many it was simply a friendly gesture to their family since their late father, Kevin Nolan, was Swinney's teammate at Alabama who died of ALS in 2016.

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It was Nolan Turner's only offer and he just finished his sixth and final season with the Tigers having started 25 of 65 career games and earning a few Second-Team All-American nods and a Second-Team All-ACC honor.

Nolan Turner's chance to join the team came after the Tigers unexpectedly lost back end defenders Mackensie Alexander, Jayron Kearse, T.J. Green and Travis Blanks after the 2015 season.

"We weren't recruiting Nolan and I have to assume (those four) were coming back," Swinney said. "Because if you don't assume they are and you go recruit people and then they come back then you have to tell someone they've got to go or can't come and we don't operate that way here. So all of a sudden you have to go recruit."

"I'd offerred Nolan a walk-on spot a long time (prior) and next thing you know we're scrambling and we went and got Isaiah (Simmons), Trayvon (Mullen), K'Von (Wallace) and Nolan. I just said I'm going to go back and watch his tape and I thought let me get an unbiased opinion here. And I took it to Brent (Venables) and he was like 'who the heck is this guy. Where's he at' -- that was his exact reaction and all I needed to know. The rest is history."

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Now Swinney is hoping Cole Turner can be the next receiver who arrived on campus with little fanfare and went on to thrive like Hunter Renfrow and Dorman's Adam Humphries, now both in the NFL.

"It's just amazing to be honest how that all came about," Swinney said of signing Cole Turner. "All I can tell you is it's just kind of a God thing because that's exactly how it happened for Nolan."

Cole Turner was mainly a basketball player who didn't begin playing high school football until his junior year. And that first season was spent playing out wide on option-based offense so he didn't really get the full wide receiver experience until his final season when a coaching change led to a new spread offense.

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"I've known Cole forever and I guess they talked him into coming out and playing football and at that point they'd been running the option for 50 years so he was just kind of a wing guy, a good athlete not on anybody's radar," Swinney said. "Then they went to the spread and next thing you know I'm getting a text from his granddaddy saying, 'hey, you might want to watch this kid.'"

Swinney started taking a closer look and spoke to Turner in November about attempting to keep him under the radar a little while so he didn't get snatched up by another program.

"He's a faster, bigger athlete than Nolan. He's twitchy, long and has great ball skills. He's a big-time athlete, big-time basketball player who plays at the highest level in Alabama and was dominant. This is his first year to play receiver and he just blew it up. Great punt and kick returner. Just like Nolan we've got to throw his butt in the weight room for a year, but I think he's got high-end potential. Just very fortunate to get a guy like that."

A similar waiting game happened for Florida linebacker Kobe McCloud, the brother of former Clemson and current Pittsburgh receiver Ray-Ray McCloud. He initially committed to Florida International before his recruiting picked up steam and the Power Five offers started coming in.

Clemson was done at the linebacker position with multiple commits and a few offers still on the table for those still deciding. The departure of Venables to Oklahoma brought about four decommitments who signed elsewhere and suddenly the Tigers had zero linebackers committed other than hybrid Wade Woodaz.

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"It's just kind of (by) chance that it all worked out the way it did," Swinney said. "(His father) reached out to me in maybe early November because were kind of locked in and done (at linebacker), were going to just take one more guy and felt good about where we were. But he wanted to get a true evaluation of Kobe so I told Brent to give me a good evaluation on what you think because I want to try and give them some good direction.

"He was trying to figure out which way to go. Brent wrote up a great evaluation on him and really liked him a lot. I sent it on, forgot about it and went about our business. Then we have signing day, do our thing and next thing you know I'm watching the Steelers game and Ray-Ray had a big game and I'm texting them and asked where Kobe ended up signing. I was told he actually ended up deciding not to sign because they just had a lot of things come their way and were going to take January to figure it out.

"I went back and watched his tape again and sent it to (new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach) Wes (Goodwin) and his response was exactly the same. He was blown away by him. He's a really good player. He's a tough kid, really good family so it's just kind of neat how that worked out."

Another signee is D.W. Daniel defensive end Jahiem Lawson, brother of former Clemson and current Jets edge rusher Shaq Lawson. Jahiem Lawson grew up as a longtime friend and teammate of Swinney's son -- Clay -- and has spent infinite hours at the Swinney home during his childhood.

"I challenged him last year because I just felt like he was good enough, but he was going to have to earn it," Swinney said. "There were some things I wanted to see in him and he did it and I'm just really proud of his development. I saw every game but one and he dominated every game and then he dominates in the (Touchstone Energy) all-star game. He's a really good prospect, but same thing in that he's got to get his butt in the weight room.

"He's twitchy, he's got some violent hands, he's a great effort guy who is instinctive. He's much more refined than Shaq was coming out simply because he's had an example for a long time. He'll be a true edge guy and he's got a chance to be a good player if he'll continue to put the work in."

The final of the four with family ties to sign (with all four not being offered by the Tigers no earlier than mid-December) is Utah running back Keith Adams Jr., son of the former Clemson and NFL linebacker. The Tigers had no running backs signed, missed on another at the position with program ties (Travis Etienne's younger brother, Trevor) and then lost to Georgia Wednesday for fast-rising recruit Andrew Paul.

Swinney said Adams is "tough, physical, he's a finisher who scores a lot of touchdowns. He's got a mentality and I love his spirit. He kind of plays running back like his dad played linebacker. Just relentless and a high motor so we're in a great spot. It was a blessing to get a guy like Keith to come in with this class."

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Unusual twists helped lead Clemson to sign four with program ties