The Clemson football program heads into the 2023 college football season with a high ceiling on offense but a wide receiver room that will need to step up for the Tigers to perform to the level they need to for a college football playoff appearance.
During his radio call-in show Monday night, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney took the time to discuss the wide receivers, particularly the freshmen wideouts. Who of Tyler Brown, Ronan Hanafin, Misun “Tink” Kelley, and Noble Johnson will play, and who will redshirt?
“Really liked the four that we signed, and Tyler Brown for sure’s going to play,” Swinney said. “Ronan, we’re going to redshirt, and then Noble and Tink, we’re going to try to hold them; we’ll see how it goes. A lot of it depends on (Troy) Stellato, who’s back now. He’s looked good the last few days. … He’s been here two years and hasn’t played (due to injuries). He’s a guy that certainly can do it, and he’s a bonus guy because we feel really good about our core group.”
A local product, Tyler Brown, has been incredibly impressive during his short time with the program, with Swinney and others raving about what he is capable of multiple times. Expectations were that Johnson would be the freshmen wide receiver to have the earliest impact, but Brown has seemed to separate himself from the group.
Swinney also touched on the rule changes with postseason games now not counting toward the four-game limit for freshmen keeping their redshirt status.
“They changed the rule this year where the postseason doesn’t count,” Swinney said. “So let’s just say you go to the national championship, well, you can play seven games. The postseason does not count. So you can play four games in the season, you can play the ACC Championship, a playoff game, and the national championship. You can play seven games and still be redshirted.”
Clemson’s freshmen wide receivers are in a good spot right now.
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