Clemson Transfer Wins National Championship With Indiana Hoosiers

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made a claim about the Tigers being the first 16-0 team ever in college football, but a player that he formerly coached is now able to say that after Monday night.

Former Clemson wide receiver E.J. Williams Jr. was a part of the 2025-26 Indiana Hoosiers program that won the national championship on Monday, defeating the Miami Hurricanes in a thrilling one-score game. Williams’s last collegiate game will be his most memorable, winning it all after six seasons.

Williams played for Clemson from 2020-22, being a wide receiver for Clemson standout Trevor Lawrence in his final season in 2020. He finished his career as a Tiger with 40 receptions for 442 yards and two touchdowns in his three seasons under head coach Dabo Swinney.

Before this season with the Hoosiers, Williams’s touchdowns only came from the arm of Lawrence. He was impressive down the stretch in his freshman season, catching touchdowns in the team’s final regular season game against Pittsburgh and the ACC Championship game against Notre Dame in 2020.

After the freshman season, the Phenix City, Alabama native fell behind in the depth chart. He would only record 16 receptions for 136 yards across two seasons before entering the transfer portal after the 2022 season. He would join Indiana in that offseason, a season before Curt Cignetti revolutionized the program into a national champion.

The 24-year old was a four-star recruit, coming out of Central Phenix City High School, which was the same school that standout Justyn Ross also went to before heading to Clemson. According to 247Sports, Williams was the No. 13 wide receiver in the Class of 2020.

He chose Swinney’s Tigers over Tennessee, LSU, Auburn and Alabama.

While still uncommon in this age of college athletics, Williams redshirted one year and used the COVID-19 year of eligibility, making him able to play at his age this season. Although most of the players who used a COVID year are now out of college football, he represents a small group of players who are still using that to their advantage.

In his final season in college football, the Indiana receiver finished with 36 receptions for 438 yards and six touchdowns, one coming in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl against Oregon from Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza.

Williams got to the mountaintop in an unlikely way, joining an Indiana program that had a 4-8 record when he transferred. Perhaps with a little luck and some of the best coaching that the sport has seen in its history, the former Clemson Tiger will be raising the College Football Playoff championship trophy for days and weeks to come.