Dabo Swinney gives glowing wide receiver update following first scrimmage

On3 imageby:Kaiden Smith08/16/22

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Following the team’s first scrimmage of fall camp, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had nothing but great things to say about his wide receiver room. Swinney gave injury updates for his two receivers Beaux Collins and EJ Williams, and talked about how their absence has helped elevated the rest of the group.

“The receivers have been really good, I mean I’m super pleased with our group. Beaux’s been out a few days, EJ will hopefully be back running around Monday ready to go. So the encouraging thing is Beaux and EJ have been out all week, both of them off to a great start in camp and both will be back soon, but it’s allowed us to really challenge some other guys. And really pleased, again, with EJ how he came out of camp, he made a great catch and came down funny and kind of had a hematoma or whatever that thing’s called, but he’ll be fine. Same thing with Beaux, Beaux’s doing well but it’s allowed us to get a lot of work to these other guys,” Swinney said.

Swinney continued to praise wide out Joseph Ngata, who’s primed to be the Tiger’s WR1 this season in his senior year, as well as slot receiver Brannon Spector.

“Ngata’s been awesome, how many times have ya’ll heard me say that? He made a couple big plays today and he’s just been a great leader for us, it’s been really fun to see. I’m just really happy for him and hopefully he can stay the course,” Swinney said. “Spector’s been awesome, this time last year he couldn’t walk up these steps, and he ain’t missed a rep, I mean he’s been awesome. The kid hasn’t played in two years, he’s just a really really veteran guy, he’s got a great mindset, really pleased with him.”

Swinney continued to highlight multiple receivers in his room that can contribute to their offensive attack this season, including true freshman Cole Turner, who’s apparently opened eyes as a 3-star recruit out of Vestavia Hills, Alabama.

Dacari [Collins] had a couple nice plays, Dacari started a lot of games last year, along with Beaux, so got all those guys back. Again we’ll get EJ and Beaux back, Will Taylor, Drew [Swinney] and Antonio [Williams], Cole Turner. Cole Turner, I mean this kid he’s got unbelievable long-term potential, I mean he could help us this year. I’m hoping we don’t have to have him, but he’s making it hard for us. Makes plays every day, had two big plays today and he gets yard after contact, he’s strong, he’s fast, but he just touches it and catches it and he’s just got a unique knack for finishing plays,” Swinney said.

It sounds like Swinney has full faith in the depth of his receiver room heading into this season, and hopefully for the Tigers this season they can avoid their injury woes from last year that troubled them out wide last year.

“So it’s a really good group and we’re gonna get Adam Randall back soon, I just love how it’s coming together and we’re building a lot of confidence in a lot of areas, we’ve just got more depth than we’ve had there in a long long time and we’re headed in the right direction,” Swinney said.