Will the Clemson wide receiver room make a jump this year?
When it comes to the questions around the Clemson offense and how different it will look, most people, understandably, point immediately to new OC Garrett Riley and new starting quarterback Cade Klubnik. Then people move to running backs Will Shipley and Phil Mafah. The wide receiver room has not been at the forefront of attention for most up to this point. However, everyone saw how special a connection Max Duggan and Quentin Johnston had last year at TCU en route to a national championship game appearance. So, while the names may be a little under the radar, there may be no group that needs Riley's presence more than the receivers.
Sophomore receiver Adam Randall, who's coming back from injury last season, spoke with reporters about where he sees the group right now. "It's been a great feel. Just us going out there and being competitive with each other and making each other better," Randall started. "Thankfully, me and Beaux being healthy, because we weren't there during the spring just us being able to bring some kind of leadership and go out there and set the standard it's really helpful for our entire room and Coach Grisham himself."
If you're looking for an insight into how Riley is already preparing this group to make plays the sophomore gave a very specific example, "Just going out there and making plays I feel like we've done a really good job actually. They call it "holding your line" and Coach Riley says 50-50 plays can turn into 80-20 if you hold your line and you can catch the ball over your shoulder a lot. So we just been working on that and that's one thing I've been working on, just holding the line. If y'all don't know what the line is you can go out to practice and see the orange line and just trying to stay on that once you run your fade route so you can catch the ball over your outside shoulder once the quarterback throws it. So, we've just been holding the line and the quarterback's been doing a good job of getting the ball in the air early and just keep your eye to the sky, track the ball, and come down with it. That's all it really takes."
With the starting group all returning and finally healthy; Randall, Beaux Collins, and Antonio Williams look like they're getting ready to have plenty of opportunities to make plays. Klubnik will need them but more importantly, the team will need them if this offense is ready to make the expected turnaround in 2023.
