Even Through Competition, Clemson's Wide Receiver Room Will Always Have Each Other's Back

The Clemson Tigers have one of the deepest wide receiver rooms in the country. Yet, they always come together during moments off the field.

Clemson's wide receiver room has a bond stronger than the quality it shows on the field. | Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

Under position coach Tyler Grisham, Clemson football has had some incredible talent on the outside over the 2020s. 

Even going back to the names of Justyn Ross and Amari Rodgers, the Tigers have always had some deep rooms, sparking offseason competition that is some of the best in the program. However, one thing is for sure with all of the groups that Grisham has had. 

They all have each other’s backs, regardless of occasion. 

Just as redshirt junior Tyler Brown, who shared his experience attending former teammate Antonio Williams’s NFL Draft party back in April. Plenty of other receivers were with the Clemson standout when he was selected by the Washington Commanders in the third round of the 2026 event. 

Names like Bryant Wesco Jr., T.J. Moore, Tristan Smith, Cole Turner and Clay Swinney joined Brown in celebrating Smith in the festivities. Even Grisham was there, showing how close this group truly is. 

Team guy! Lfg pic.twitter.com/A9F8X19ghH

— Courtney Holloway (@c_williams31) April 25, 2026

“We’ve just always been a close-knit group,” Brown said on Clemson football’s 2 Right Turns podcast. “Coach Grish, he just emphasizes being close, very close, because if you don’t want to see your brothers win, what are you really doing?”

Other receivers like Zach Jackson and Chase Byrd were in attendance, too. It goes to show the culture that Grisham has built across his seven years as the program’s wide receiver coach. Now, the players will keep those relationships for the rest of their lives. 

“We all love to see each other doing good,” Brown said. “It’s all healthy competition between our wide receiver room.”

Brown’s big 2023 season, where he led the team in receptions and receiving yards as a freshman, came at the cost of Williams going down with a variety of injuries to activate a medical redshirt. The next-man-up mentality that the group shows will constantly show up in Grisham’s system, and the Tigers have the depth to do so. 

It’s all love in the end, though. Brown said that he “shed a tear” when hearing his teammate’s name on the broadcast to go to the NFL. 

“That room was so crazy,” he said. “But, yeah, so proud of him and ready to watch him do it, for sure.”

The Greenville native says that if he were being drafted, Williams would be supporting him in the same way. That’s the personality the new Tiger in the NFL has, and Brown won’t forget that from a person he spent a lot of life with. 

“Antonio, as a person, is just a humble dude, man. I mean, he never forgets about who he came up with, and I will say that, attest to that,” Brown said. 

“He’s going to stick down with his day ones, and on this picture right here, we were there for him.”