Clemson's Dabo Swinney Praises Freshman Safety's Spring Performance, Compares Him to Sammy Brown

This past weekend, the Clemson Tigers held their annual spring game, with the Orange team, composed mostly of expected starters, defeating the White team, 23-3.

There were plenty of standouts on both sides, including a two-sack performance from defensive linemen London Merritt and Vic Burley; however, true freshman Polo Anderson got some attention as well, finishing the afternoon with six tackles (tied second-most on the day).

Following the contest, the media asked head coach Dabo Swinney about what he's seen from the young safety and whether he can be an impact player come fall. And if his answer had to be put into one word, it would be: potential.

"Yeah, he's got a lot to learn for sure. But [he] catches your eye every day," Swinney praised. "I don't know if there's a day that went by that I didn't notice [Polo]. He's long, he's athletic, he can really run, he's a tough kid, he cares. We got us a good one."

"He's a young player, he's not where [Corey] Myrick, Jerome [Carter III], Ronan [Hanafin] or [Kylon Griffin] are just from a knowledge standpoint. But, he's a high school kid in his first semester of college, he's gonna get better, and he's gonna learn."

Swinney then drew an interesting comparison between Anderson and 2025 First-team All-ACC linebacker Sammy Brown, a fellow highly-touted recruit who has lived up to expectations over the past two years.

But based on how he described Anderson's spring relative to Brown's, it seems as though the true freshman is already off to a more impressive start in terms of X's and O's, with Swinney noting that Brown's performance was "average" when he first arrived.

"Sammy Brown wasn't very good his first spring," he continued. "I thought he was pretty average. I came out of spring going, 'he's got a lot to learn.' I [was] like, 'Hey man, if you don't learn what to do, you're just going to be a talented guy on the sideline.' But by the time we got to the end of August, [I] was like, 'Okay, he's going to be ready to help us.'"

"So, I would say the same thing about Polo. If he does what he needs to do from a slowing the game down standpoint, formation recognition, alignments, calls, adjustments, you know all that stuff that happens really, really fast at that position. He'll be able to help our team, but I mean, certainly special teams and things like that, but he's flashed every single day. [He's] a good, young talent."

While the in-state product most likely won't start to begin the year, considering the Tigers just added transfers at the safety position in Jerome Carter III and Corey Myrick, we'll likely see him on special teams frequently and for occasional snaps when needed.

However, it's possible he could jump another defensive back in the latter half of the season if expectations aren't being met, as we saw with rising redshirt sophomore Corian Gipson in 2025 at the TIGER position, starting the final three games of the season there.