Clemson football evaluating a transfer portal player, per reports

As transfer portal season approaches, the No. 24 Clemson football team is showing some interest in a rising Division II offensive lineman, per reports.

A Monday report from TigerIllustrated.com revealed that Clemson is “already evaluating” former Shorter (Ga.) University offensive lineman Alan Herron, who entered the portal Nov. 16. SportsTalkSC also reported Clemson’s interest in Herron.

Herron formally announced a scholarship offer from Clemson on Wednesday.

Herron played two seasons at Shorter, an NCAA Division II football program in Rome, Georgia, before he announced his intent to enter the portal two weeks ago.

In a larger story previewing the portal cycle, 247Sports highlighted Herron as an offensive lineman to watch in the portal, writing that he “moves well” at 6-foot-6 and 315 pounds and his upside “is something that a lot of schools are intrigued by.”

Herron (who was able to enter the portal earlier as a Division II player) has already picked up offers from a number of Power Five schools, including Boston College, Kansas, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Louisville and Texas Tech.

Herron, who has 20-plus offers, confirmed to a Louisville recruiting website he’ll officially visit the Cardinals Dec. 15-17 and has several other visits “in the works.”

The Tigers, who finished the regular season 8-4 and await their bowl placement Sunday, have used the transfer portal minimally under coach Dabo Swinney — though Swinney will contend that’s due to a lack of fit, rather than a lack of effort on Clemson’s end.

During the last two transfer portal cycles, which have seen a record number of players enter due to an NCAA waiver allowing first-time transfers to be immediately eligible at their new school, Clemson has only added two players, both of them veteran backup quarterbacks.

The Tigers brought in former Northwestern quarterback Hunter Johnson (who started his career at Clemson) for 2022 and former Alabama/Arizona State quarterback Paul Tyson for 2023.

Clemson has shown interest in top portal players over the years, offering two offensive linemen who committed elsewhere and are now playing in the NFL in the 2021 cycle and reaching out to but not offering a top cornerback who ended up at Florida State in 2022.

But the Tigers still haven’t added a scholarship player outside of the quarterback position in the new era of transfer portal movement, prompting criticism.

Offensive line could be a position for Clemson to address in the portal this cycle, if it chooses. The Tigers are losing center Will Putnam after this season and had four other veteran linemen (Bryn Tucker, Trent Howard, John Williams and Mitchell Mayes) walk on Senior Day, though all those players could return in 2024.

Under new guidelines released in October, college football players can only formally enter the portal in a 30-day window from Dec. 4, 2023, to Jan. 3, 2024. That’s down from a 45-day window last season.

There’s also an additional five-day window after a team’s postseason game and a 15-day window in the spring (May 1-15).