Dabo Swinney Details How NIL Has Affected Clemson Locker Room

The Tigers are having issues moving the ball and there are a lot of theories as to why.

Clemson ranks at or near the bottom of the ACC in almost every major statistical category on the offensive side of the ball. The offensive line hasn't lived up to expectations, the receivers have struggled to get separation and the quarterback play hasn't been anywhere close to what was expected with D.J. Uiagalelei taking over the job full-time.

With so many issues on one side of the ball, some have questioned whether the new NIL legislation has resulted in the fracturing of the locker room. While no financial details were ever disclosed, Uiagalelei did sign two national deals with Bojangles and Dr. Pepper.

Head coach Dabo Swinney was asked about the possibility on Wednesday night after practice and quickly shot down the suggestion, also noting that every team in the country are dealing with the same things when it comes to NIL.

"It's the same for everybody," Swinney said. "Our locker room, I don't know of any issues with that. Our guys are great. This is a fun team to coach and an easy team to coach."

In the Tigers 27-21 double overtime loss to NC State, Clemson had more penalties than first downs and were handcuffed by a slew of mental mistakes on the offensive side of the ball.

While Swinney readily admits his team has some issues that need to be worked through, he maintains that the effort is there. From what he sees each and every day in practice, his team is a close-knit group that is more concerned with improving their play than they are anything going on off of the field of play.

“They are focused and they show up every day," Swinney said. "They respond. They take ownership of things. They have a will to win that is special and their effort is tremendous. Our extra effort tape, it takes a while to get through it on Mondays. Our guys are playing incredibly hard. I don't think that has anything to do with us jumping offsides, or dropping a ball or not stepping with the correct foot or not running the correct routes. Everybody has the same deal, but our guys have been great.”

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