How 'Baptisms' Have Clemson's Freshmen Wideout Trio Growing Into Potential Starters

For Clemson football, this was a spring that Dabo Swinney called a “Billy Graham revival” for some mid-year enrollees. Why did the Tigers’ head coach reference a longtime Christian evangelist, you ask?

“Bunch of baptisms on the field daily,” he said after the group’s spring game.

Starting wide receivers T.J. Moore and Bryant Wesco Jr. were out with injuries all spring, while depth pieces Tristan Smith and Cole Turner were also sidelined. This meant that during competition drills, Clemson’s freshman trio of Naeem Burroughs, Gordon Sellars III and Connor Salmin were thrust in as considered starters.

For high school players who used their physique to stand out, it was a culture shock when players like Ashton Hampton would be defending them.

“Ashton Hampton just beat them up, just feel sorry for them,” Swinney said. “I mean, just bless your heart.”

That’s the jump in competition that these players saw, having difficult practices each day. It wasn’t just Hampton who gave them that treatment; it was nearly everybody in the secondary.

“Every day in practice, you’ve got Ashton Hampton, you got Strozier, you got Elliot Washington, I mean, you got Gipson, I mean, it was brutal at times,” Swinney said. “But, as we went throughout the spring, all those guys got better.”

The freshmen growth was on display in Clemson’s spring game this past weekend. Sellars caught three passes for 34 yards, including an eight-yard touchdown pass to score the first of the game. Burroughs caught three passes for 28 yards, being on the winning team of Team Orange.

That’s what happens when you’re baptized by potential All-ACC cornerbacks in your first weeks as a collegiate athlete: you’ll eventually get better and grow from it.

“I mean, but that’s the only way you’re going to get better, because again, these are elite, talented wideouts, and they’ve never had a peer,” Swinney said. “Ain’t nobody walked up to them on Friday night and said, ‘All right dawg, me and you, all night,’ that don’t happen.”

Moore and Wesco will return this summer to play at full strength, but the freshmen are making a name for themselves, according to Swinney. After a tough spring, exponential growth as a potential being a starting candidate at the wide receiver room in 2026.

They’ve figured out that there’s much more that goes into a route than simply outrunning your competition. That doesn’t happen at this level of college athletics.

“Now, you’ve got to learn how to have some technique,” the Clemson head coach said. ‘Now, you’ve got to learn how to have a release technique. You’ve got to learn how to play behind your pads, you’ve got to have influence in your route. There’s just so much that goes into it other than just being the better player than whoever’s over there.”

It will be an exciting room in 2026, according to Swinney, who will have a choice at quarterback entering this summer in a competition that is far from over.

One thing is for certain, though. That player will have a plethora of weapons around him, and Burroughs, Salmin and Sellars are all going to get better.

“I promise you, they’re all going, ‘Thank God that’s over,’ because now, they know what they’ve got to do,” Swinney said.

“Hopefully, will go out way with Tristan, get Cole back, get T.J. back, get Wesco back. We’ll have us a nice little core with some depth and be a fun group to watch.”