Roddy Jones doubts Clemson’s ability to get deep wide receiver depth
Clemson’s wide receiver production has dropped off a cliff this decade under Dabo Swinney, and the ACC Network’s Roddy Jones doesn’t see a path to that position group getting much better in 2024.
The Tigers were once an NFL wide receiver factory under Dabo Swinney. Guys like DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins, Tee Higgins, Amari Rodgers and others eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark and were the superstar talents among Clemson’s offensive weapons the years they were there. But since 2020, there’s been an extreme drought of talent out wide.
Just look at the raw numbers. In Swinney’s first 12 seasons, eight featured a receiver who recorded more than 1,000 yards, and every year up to 2020, Clemson had a receiver eclipse the 630-yard mark. But in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the Tigers had zero wideouts sniff 1,000 and not a single one went for more than 604 yards in a single season.
Per Roddy Jones, the main issue is that Clemson is losing the battle of attrition thanks to their unwillingness to attack that position in the transfer portal.
“The answer is no, they’re not going to get back to that,” said Jones of Clemson’s previous standard at WR. “The attrition has been too high. That’s been the position the most where I think their hesitance to go to the transfer portal has hurt them.”
Jones doesn’t see the receiver room as a product of poor recruiting — in fact, he believes the Tigers are getting as good of talent as they always have. It’s that not all of those guys are panning out or spending their entire careers in orange and purple.
“The inputs have been the same. Tee Higgins was a four-star guy, Mike Williams was a four or five-star guy. They’ve been getting four and five stars. Beaux Collins and Dacari Collins, four and five-star players, EJ Williams, a four-star player. The inputs have been the same, the output is what’s changed.
“And then the attrition as well. Guys playing for three years or sitting for three years and then transferring out. So they’re not going to build that kind of depth.”
With Dabo Swinney’s refusal to lean heavy into the portal, Jones believes Clemson has to get back to recruiting top guys who live up to the expectation. After results of late, though, he’s skeptical believing in that formula for 2024.
“My question is: can they get the top-end talent again? Every single year, we’ve heard about a freshman receiver. They’ve got another one, highly-touted freshman receiver coming in who’s lighting it up in spring practice. Can he turn into that guy? I’m skeptical at this point.”
So, there may not be a clear star in the WR room, but Roddy Jones does see a path to the Tigers having a much deeper cast of pass catchers this time around.
“But if they can have depth by committee, if they can not have a drop off from Troy Stellato to the next guy, then I think you can sort of find a happy medium between what they were and where they’ve been.“