Dabo Swinney Details What Tristan Smith Needs to Do to Get Back in Clemson's WR Rotation

After a rough fall camp buried him on the depth chart, Tristan Smith is fighting to earn his way back into Clemson's WR rotation.

Dabo Swinney explains what fifth-year WR Tristan Smith must do to climb back into Clemson's receiver rotation. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Yesterday, we spoke about true freshman wideout Gordon Sellars III separating himself within Clemson’s wide receiver corps, with him already earning the right to be the first outside receiver off the bench.

However, things haven’t gone as smoothly for other players at the position.

One of the biggest offseason stories for the Tigers was retaining fifth-year Tristan Smith, who transferred in from Southeast Missouri State ahead of last season. 

Back in November of last year, the NCAA denied Smith’s waiver for a fifth season, sending him to court in January to fight for it. After months of delays, South Carolina judge Jessica A. Salvini granted him a temporary injunction on June 12, clearing him to suit up for the Tigers in 2026.

With the stress of his eligibility fight finally behind him, it was time for Smith to put his head down, go to work and lock in his role as the primary reserve on the outside behind stars T.J. Moore and Bryant Wesco Jr.

Unfortunately for Smith, it didn't go as planned. He struggled consistently with drops and, according to head coach Dabo Swinney, "didn't have a good camp." Now he's buried in the reserve rotation, logging just five offensive snaps all season, none of them coming last weekend against Georgia Southern.

“He’s just got to practice consistent,” Swinney said when asked about what Smith needs to do to get back in the rotation. “You know, he didn’t have a good camp, really just kind of went backward in camp, and, you know, so he’s kind of just got behind, and he’s got to stack days every day.”

Lately, though, things have been looking up for the fifth-year, as he put together one of his better weeks in practice last week. He also got contacts to help with his frequent drops, an issue Swinney said he didn't even think Smith realized was that bad.

“And he has. I would say last week was one of his better weeks. He needed to get some contacts,” Swinney mentioned. “I think he was struggling. He was dropping a lot of balls; I don’t even think he knew how bad he was there. So he’s got some contacts and, you know, that seems like, obviously, that’s helped him.”

Moving forward, Smith’s path back into the rotation is simple: practice hard and know the assignments. While it may be hard knowing he got passed up in camp, the only thing for him to do now is bounce back.

“But he’s had a couple good weeks, but just practicing hard and doing what he’s got to do from an assignment standpoint,” he finished. “And again, he just kind of got passed up in camp, so he’s got to battle his way back and stack days.”

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