Demarre Kitt, a true freshman WR from suburban Atlanta, has announced via his social media accounts that he will be leaving the program. In a recruiting class that included Artavis Scott, Trevion Thompson, Kyrin Priester, and himself only Scott and Thompson remain.
Demarre Kitt will finish his Clemson career with five catches for 47 yards.
It's almost been a whole year at clemson and I've enjoyed every bit of it . But I don't feel like… http://t.co/944jaDXCoH
— Demarre Kitt (@D_ocho) December 8, 2014
With Priester being dismissed and now Kitt transferring, the situation with Clemson's wide receiver departures looks similar to what we experienced at the QB position before this season. QB Morgan Roberts transferred to Yale and Chad Kelly essentially forced Clemson to kick him off the team. That left Clemson extremely thin at the position and could have cost Clemson as many as four games this season, but fortunately was only the deciding factor in one loss (GT).
The big difference here is the amount of players recruited to the WR position, which is far greater than at QB. Demarre Kitt may have had a hard time finding playing time with only Adam Humphries graduating, Trevion Thompson coming off redshirt, and Deon Cain and Ray-Ray McCloud III joining the program. Should he transfer to UGA (just as an example, I have no inside source here), he will have an opportunity to sit out a year and then have three years of being a major impact player for a team that is much thinner at the position. He originally chose Clemson over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, and many other major programs. Because of Clemson's depth at the position, they should be able to absorb the loss without the depth issues that occurred at QB.
Clemson has tended to recruit in cycles recently. For example, the 2014 class included four WRs and the 2015 class includes four OLs. As a result, playing time can become an issue and there is understandably pressure to transfer.
With the great WRs Clemson has committed, this loss shouldn't scare Clemson fans too much. We genuinely wish Kitt nothing but the best and hope he has a good career wherever he lands.