Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, infamous in some quarters for his disdain for recruiting out of the transfer portal, struck twice during the week by signing Southeast Missouri State transfer wide receiver Tristan Smith and former Purdue defensive end Will Heldt.
Smith (6-5, 205) made a visit to Clemson last Monday and committed to the Tigers becoming the first addition to their 2025 class out of the Portal. Smith is a native of LaGrange, Ga., who played two seasons at Hutchinson JC (Kan.) before joining the Redhawks for the 2024 season. In the 2024 season, Smith caught 76 passes for 934 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games. He averaged 12 yards per catch. He had one game of 10 catches. In a game at Charleston Southern, Smith had seven catches for 90 yards. Smith gives Clemson two receivers in the 2025 class. He played two full seasons in junior college and one at SEMO, so that should leave him one season of eligibility with the Tigers.
Heldt (6-6, 265) also visited LSU and Texas A&M during his transfer recruiting process. He was regarded as one of the top prospects in the portal this month after two seasons with the Boilermakers. His best season was this one in which he had 56 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, five sacks and a scoop and score. Heldt is a native of Carmel, Ind., and he played two seasons at Purdue, leaving him with three years to play two at Clemson under the current rules. The Tigers now have 17 newcomers for 2025.
Sports Timberland's Green announces top 10 finalists; USC, Clemson hit transfer portal By Phil Kornblut Special to The Post and Courier
South Carolina also signed two out of the portal last week. First was Kentucky transfer tight end Jordan Dingle (6-4, 242). The Bowling Green, Ky., native, who was born in Manning, caught 43 passes for 615 yards and four touchdowns over four seasons with the Wildcats. He set a career high for receptions (20) in 2022, when he also had three touchdown grabs. He had a career-best 270 yards in 2023. Dingle became the second tight end in the 2025 class, joining Hammond product Mike Tyler. He played in only four games in 2021 and then played three full seasons with the Wildcats, so he'll have one season of eligibility in Columbia.
Shortly after Dingle announced his plans to join USC, the Gamecocks landed Texas A&M transfer DT Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (6-3, 310). Dindy committed to Texas A&M in its 2022 class. He was a highly regarded prospect coming out of Lakeland, Fla., but didn't see the field much in College Station. Dindy appeared in eight contests in his three seasons with the Aggies, compiling four tackles, three tackles for loss and a half-sack. He gives the Gamecocks three defensive tackles in the 2025 class, which now counts 29 newcomers. Dindy should have at least two seasons of eligibility with the Gamecocks.
South Carolina lost transfer commitment LB Andrew Jones to Ole Miss where he visited two days after he committed to the Gamecocks last week. He is transferring from Grambling State.
Sports Gamecocks secure DE transfer from Mizzou By Phil Kornblut Special to The Post and Courier Notes
Ohio State transfer QB Prentiss "Air" Noland (6-3, 195) visited USC on Saturday. Noland is a native of Fairburn Ga., who was considered one of the top quarterbacks in the 2024 class when he committed to the Buckeyes in April of 2023. Clemson was actually one of his favorites at that time along with Alabama, Miami, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Oregon. Noland did not play this season and was redshirted. In his high school career, Noland passed for over 10,000 yards and over 100 touchdowns. As a senior he threw for 2,140 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Western Kentucky transfer OL Rodney Newsom (6-3, 303) also visited USC over the weekend. He played two seasons at Memphis and one year at Itawamba JC (Miss.) before joining Western this season.
Transfer CB Myles Norwood made an official visit to USC late last week. Norwood also visited Louisville and Kentucky. Those three are his top choices.
Alabama transfer RB Justice Haynes also visited USC last week. He also took visits to Ole Miss and Michigan.
Florida transfer DT TJ Searcy (6-5, 2572) was also expected in for a USC visit over the weekend. He also visited Auburn and Texas A&M.
Max Olson of ESPN reported South Carolina is one of the schools involved with West Virginia transfer RB CJ Donaldson (6-2, 238) who just hit the portal on Thursday. Olson reported that Miami, Florida State, Ole Miss and Texas Tech were other contenders. Clemson may also have some interest in Donaldson. In three seasons with the Mountaineers, Donaldson rushed for 2,058 yards and 30 touchdowns. Donaldson is a native of Miami and has one year of eligibility remaining.
USC offered Bowling Green transfer DT Davonte Miles (6-5, 275). The native of River Rouge, MI redshirted in 2021 and played the last two seasons. In 22 games he totaled 25 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss. He has visited Illinois and also has an offer from Memphis.
USC transfer targets committing elsewhere:
OL Jordan White to Vanderbilt.
OT Gunnar Hansen to Florida State.
DT Kelby Collins to Alabama.
WR Horatio Fields to Auburn
OL Derek Simmons to Oklahoma.
OL Dominick Giudice to Missouri.
QB Brooks Bentley, youngest son of coach Bobby Bentley, is transferring from Wingate to New Hampshire.
Gaffney native and former Duke QB Grayson Loftis transferring to Charlotte.
Sumter native Justus Boone is transferring from Florida to Arkansas.
Former USC TE Connor Cox committed to North Carolina.
Former USC WR Debron Gatling has signed with Georgia Tech.
Former Clemson safety Sherrod Covil committed to Virginia Tech.
Former Coastal DE Clev Lubin is headed to Louisville.
Former Coastal Carolina starting QB Ethan Vasko visited Liberty last week per CBSSports.com
Coastal Carolina DE Joshan Saddler is transferring. He's out of Ridge View and played in three games this season after redshirting in 2023.
A Note from Paul Strelow of TigerIllustrated who wrote this week that he is no longer tracking the recruitment of Irmo WR Donovan Murph from a Clemson standpoint. Strelow typically will stop following a prospect once he's gotten word from his contacts that Clemson is no longer involved. In this case, that likely means Clemson has gotten the word that Murph plans to announce for USC on Jan. 2.
Clemson on Wednesday night offered Dorman SAF Kentavion Anderson. He was also offered by Syracuse earlier in the day Wednesday. He also has offers from USC, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia State and Liberty.
CB Samari Matthews of Cornelius, N.C., has scheduled junior day visits to USC on Jan. 11, Florida State on Jan. 18, Tennessee on Jan. 25 and Clemson Feb. 1.
North Augusta QB Corey Tillman committed to The Citadel.
Basketball
USC coach Lamont Paris on Wednesday offered 2026 6-5 Kohl Rosario of Moravian Prep and his teammate 2026 6-1 Isaac Ellis. He's the brother of USC signee Eli Ellis. Paris saw both players up close last week when they played in The Bash at Ridge View High School.