Long-awaited opportunity ‘really sweet’ for Clemson senior receiver

Will Brown, Clemson’s senior receiver turned punt returner, grew up a die-hard Clemson fan and is now seeing an increase in his playing time. To him, “it means a whole lot,” Brown said. “I’m having a lot of fun, too. Just trying to enjoy this last year knowing I’ll be hanging it up in a couple months after we finish this season. I’m just trying to have fun with it and enjoy it as much as I can.” 

When asked about his decision of choosing to come to Clemson as a preferred walk-on or being able to go play somewhere else, Brown was confident in his answer and path to Clemson.

“It was an easy decision honestly,” he said. “This was the only place I really wanted to be. I was either going to come here and be a student or I was going to come here to play ball. Coach (Dabo) Swinney gave me an opportunity to be a part of the team, so it was a no-doubter for me.” 

With being a walk-on at Clemson, Brown says that there are “definitely standards.”

“Coach Swinney always expects above and beyond from a walk-on because obviously we don’t come in on scholarship,” he continued. “Obviously the goal is to one day hopefully be put on scholarship and earn an opportunity to play or do whatever. If you’re going to be a walk-on at Clemson, you can’t be a guy that’s going to be cutting corners, missing classes, missing tutors, missing study hall, not showing up for workouts. You’ve got to be a guy that’s a grinder. Just a blue-collar put your nose down and just grind, and if you want to be successful as a walk-on, then that’s what it takes. Coach Swinney and coach (Tony) Elliot and all the coaches that were walk-ons, that’s what they expect because they’ve been through it themselves.”

On Brown’s long-awaited playing time moment: “There are a lot of times in the waiting process that it gets easy to have a lot of doubt and wanting to fold and just give in to the pressure of outside noise and people who don’t understand what it’s like to be on the inside. You’re playing and competing with the best guys in the country every day.

“Different people just don’t really understand the level of competition you’re going up against, so they’re asking you why you’re not playing. A lot of times it just gets tough having to explain yourself and explain yourself and just try to tell people it’s just different. To finally be getting an opportunity, it’s really sweet.”