Elite Clemson Commit Believes Tigers Can Compete for a Championship

Clemson Tigers commit Shavar Young believes that this year's program can compete for a championship.

George Robinson / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Clemson Tigers have seen their fair share of success under veteran head coach Dabo Swinney, who has had the reigns since the middle of the 2008 season, taking over after Tommy Bowden resigned.

They have played to a 176-44 record under Swinney, 108-23 in conference play, and he has led the program to eight Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, and two National Championships during his tenure.

This year, the team has jumped out to a 6-1 record, 5-0 in conference play, and has shown dominance on both sides of the ball since their week one loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.

A major key to Swinney's success with the Tigers has been his recruiting, as he has refused to bring players in through the transfer portal.

One elite recruit, athlete Shavar Young, believes that this Clemson team can compete for a championship with what he has seen them do so far this season.

Clemson 🐯4-star ATH commit Shavar Young in locked in with the Tigers, Mike Reed and Dabo Swinney, and thinks this years Clemson squad has the tools to make a championship run@shavar_y pic.twitter.com/O2ZwALguUJ

— Sam Spiegelman (@samspiegs) October 24, 2024

"I think they have a chance to go to the Championship," Young told Sam Spiegelman of Yahoo Sports on Thursday, "at the beginning everybody doubted them. They had a tough first game, they bounced back real well. Everybody was doubting the team and coach Swinney, but he just, once again proving them wrong."

And that is something that Swinney has been doing well for years: proving the haters wrong every step of the way.

Many believed that Swinney's refusal to bring in transfers would be the death of the Tigers' elite run over the better part of the last two decades, especially after the team played to "only" a 9-4 record last year, and only 4-4 in conference play.

While that record marked the first time that Clemson finished a campaign with less than ten wins since 2010 when they went 6-7, what many forget is that last year's program finished the year on a five-game win streak.

After the Week One blowout loss to the Bulldogs this season, many counted the Tigers out, claiming that Swinney was no longer the man for the job and that this team would not be competitive, but since that game, Clemson has not lost and has outscored their opponents 291-127, while holding three of those opponents to 14 points or less in consecutive games.

It will be a rough road for the Tigers to get to a National Championship, but Dabo Swinney has been there before and has traveled that road on multiple occasions.