'A bunch of nobodies': Dabo Swinney Reveals No Starters, Standouts During Fall Camp

August brings fall camp to college football, and the mind games start to come in ahead of Week 1. Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney does it better than anyone.

But he also remains critical about his team entering the 2026 season. Coming off of last season’s 7-6 finish, there’s reason for him to find his best guys to erase what happened during the fall of 2025.

However, Swinney is remaining quiet on who he believes will emerge as the starting and top talent entering a pivotal season.

“I don’t have any starters,” he said during the first week of fall camp. “I’m just going to tell you there ain’t nobody starting. Somebody’s going to run out there today because you got to go practice.”

Especially with the turnover from last season to this upcoming one, it means there are plenty of combinations the Tigers can roll with to begin the year in Baton Rouge, La., against LSU.

Clemson brought a record number of transfers into the program last season, with most coming on the defensive side of the ball. Therefore, plenty of changes will be there to fill the needs of other players who transferred, graduated or went to the NFL.

On offense, the same occurred. Players who were second in the depth chart will rise to the occasion while Swinney added a handful of freshmen who can compete for starting roles on the offensive line and at wide receiver.

But, he doubled down on it on Tuesday, not having any names to remark as standouts from the two weeks that fall camp has happened for.

“Everybody’s just working there. A bunch of nobodies,” Swinney said. “We’ll see if anybody becomes somebody as we play some games.”

Two scrimmages await the Tigers before they actually play a different team, meaning Clemson has opportunities to see each player in a game-like environment, but the lack of having names could end up being beneficial. After all, Swinney is facing the second leg of the home-and-home series with LSU, and Week 1 always brings the most uncertainty into the fray.

An advantage that has been talked about is the other group of Tigers, led by Lane Kiffin in his first season in the Bayou, not knowing anybody he will play at the beginning of September. It means he wouldn’t know any matchups until when the two teams kick off in about three weeks.

Until then, Swinney wants to see more competition out of his group, and nobody will be named a standout until he deems it to be necessary.

“We’re going to evaluate them every day, and if you run out there first tomorrow, then that’s because you earned it today, not because we just think you’re supposed to be the best one,” he said.

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