
Reports: Clemson basketball star to finish college career with Dabo Swinney, football team
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney may be about to get his wish.
Former Clemson basketball player Ian Schieffelin, who just wrapped a memorable four-year career for coach Brad Brownell, is reportedly "planning" on joining Swinney and the football program.
Rivals.com first reported the news, which 247Sports' Austin Hannon confirmed Wednesday. Swinney has been a constant admirer of Schieffelin, doting on the 6-foot-8 forward in recent years. Swinney is frequently in attendance at Clemson basketball games at Littlejohn Coliseum and was asked about Schieffelin hypothetically joining the football team on October 15 of last year.
"He could be a tight end, D-end, for sure," Swinney said of Schieffelin at the time. "He'd play whatever he wants to play. He'd be an unbelievable left tackle, but he wouldn't want to play that. He'd want to be at one of them sexy positions. 'Sexy Chef,' right? ... Think about 'sexy Dexy' (Dexter Lawrence). He's got Campbell's Soup commercials now and all that. I've been giving him some grief.
"But yeah, Chef, nobody gets too excited about the left tackle. Chef would probably want to be a D-end or a tight end. I'd definitely have a spot and we've got a lot of rev share ready for him, too, if he wants to pass up wherever he's going to come on over here ... But yeah, he'd be a good one. He'd be a problem."
Football wouldn't be foreign to Schieffelin; he played quarterback at Grayson High School in Georgia before enrolling at Clemson. Phil Mafah was the running back on that team.
Per Hannon at 247Sports:
"The expectation is that Schieffelin will look to join the tight end room, which did lose two guys from last year's team. Jake Briningstool signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent last week, while Markus Dixon moved on to join Chris Rumph and the defensive ends during spring ball."
With Briningstool onto the NFL, Olsen Patt-Henry is projected as the Tigers' starting tight end in 2025. He had nine catches for 121 yards a season ago, including two touchdown catches in Clemson's 48-31 win over Virginia at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 19.
Despite not having any known eligibility remaining, Schieffelin and guard Jordan Zackery entered the basketball transfer portal last week, apparently with the hope of gaining a fifth year of eligibility somewhere in 2025-26 pending NCAA court cases.
That somewhere now appears to be with the Clemson football program -- and a longtime admirer in Swinney.
Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.

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