Beaux Collins gave Clemson fans their first look at him over the weekend against South Carolina State. He previously touched the field in Clemson’s spring game when he caught the first touchdown pass of his college career from former high school teammate D.J. Uiagalelei.
Admitting to being nervous at first, Collins expressed having Uiagelelei there “has helped a lot in the process, having a friend on and off the field, from knowing how he throws the ball to advice on classes.”
As one of Clemson’s up-and-coming weapons in the receiver position, Collins feels he’s developing and fitting in pretty well.
“I’m really liking the slot position,” he said. “In high school, I played more of the outside boundary dude, and being able to come here and work in the slot is just developing my game at the next level, at a high level, and it’s really fun being able to learn different positions within offense. It helps you learn where you’re supposed to be at all times, knowing the whole concept of the whole play.”
Arriving on campus early in January gave Collins some extra time to pick up on plays, and being around playmakers made his far-from-home transition smooth.
“Guys like E.J. Williams, J (Justyn) Ross, Joe Ngata, I learn from those dudes every day. We run routes and then after the route, we come back
and talk about each play, what we could have done, things we saw. We asked each other, ‘Hey bro, was I short? How did the route look?’ We all have a good relationship with each other, even the walk-ons. We all love each other. It’s a great group of guys.”
Looking ahead to Georgia Tech this weekend, Collins’ excitement to open ACC play is prominent.
“Yeah I’m very excited. Our next step is to win the division, so this is the first step to winning the division. As far as the Georgia Tech defense goes, still have to watch a little bit more film on that. Haven’t really dove into that yet. We’ll start today in meetings and things like that
on their defense.”
Having a personal goal of scoring just one touchdown and working toward blocking on the perimeter, Collins gets back to work this week for Saturday’s home game in Death Valley.