I acknowledge his enthusiasm and energy and understand how that translates into effective recruiting. As far as him being "real" and "genuine" I don't see it. Maybe it's the aw shucks, country bumpkin persona. Maybe it's the fact that a man nearly fifty years old calls himself Dabo. Or the dancing and goofy, childish antics. That just does not appeal to me. I want a guy making millions of dollars and representing my university to speak grammatically correct English and act like a grown up. I think it's all a well played act. Yes, what you see is basically his personality, but he plays it up for the cameras and is very shrewd. Dabo is like a businessman or politician. He has crafted a message and honed it over the years into a stump speech and now he repeats it every chance he gets. He is very media savvy. He knows how to get his message out, whether it is a scripted, rehearsed rant such as The Real Carolina or Bring Your Own Guts or a thirty second pre halftime interview as he walks off the field. The man is smart that way. Brilliant even. He will do whatever it takes to sell himself and his program and protects it with an almost cult like fervor. He has even used his faith to sell the program.
Every so often even Dabo slips up and you can get a peek behind the curtain at the true man. When he was pulled by the police officer for speeding, you certainly did not see an affable ol country boy yucking it up and Dabbing. Rather, the camera caught an angry, outraged, indignant, rude and churlish redneck. Same thing when reporters question him too much or challenge him, as with the DJ Reader incident this Fall. He snapped and went off point briefly. You can also see it with team discipline. Sure, he'll preach religion and ethics and the "specialness" of Clemson. He'll act like nothing bad ever happens at Clemson. Then you see him not discipline Joe Craig after he beats his girlfriend with a towel rod. In fact, he kept that and other incidents out of the media for as long as possible. It's all about branding, control, and messaging. He does it better than anyone.
At the end of the day the man has built a winning program and the recruiting is phenomenal. And he's not breaking any rules. Give him credit. But don't act like he is some "keep it real" guy. He is far, far from it.