2015 Clemson Football Participation Review: Wide Receivers

As in previous years we are taking a look at the snap counts of each position for Clemson football. Rather than starts, number of snaps is a good indicator of true experience. All of the numbers used in this are through the Orange Bowl, they do not include the national championship game. These snap totals also only include snaps on offense or defense, special teams participation is not counted. Players in bold will not be returning for 2016.

Wide Receiver is one of the more interesting positions to do this review on. Like the defensive line, there are multiple players on the field for each play, and there is a rotation. This is why we usually see 10 plus guys getting some snaps at the position with 7-8 of them getting significant snaps.

Even though Clemson usually has at least 3 WRs on the field, we see that there are plenty of opportunities for everyone. Charon Peake and Artavis Scott were our two main guys at WR with Hunter Renfrow the clear #3. Even then Germone Hopper still got plenty of opportunities to show what he can do on the field. It is a bit surprising that he decided to transfer, but it is possible he didn't want to compete with the return of Mike Williams, the incoming freshman, and Deon Cain and Ray-Ray McCloud III.

There aren't a lot of complaints to be had about experience at WR. Adrien Dunn is the only scholarship receiver that isn't getting the type of snaps you would like to see. Given our level of talent at the position it can happen. If he is on track to graduate in May of 2017 don't expect him to return given our tight numbers for the 2017 recruiting class. Other than that, everything is as expected. The young guys got some good experience and the experienced players really stepped up after Mike Williams was injured.

The big news for 2016 is the return of Mike Williams. Most of us expected Williams to declare for the NFL Draft despite missing all but 12 snaps of the 2016 season. Thankfully he took some time to think through his decision and should provide that deep threat we were missing in 2016. There is a reason Williams is considered a first round talent and we'll notice the difference even though we got excellent play from the WRs.

I'm also struggling to see where exactly the 3 freshman receivers will get much playing time. Barring something like a disciplinary issue by Deon Cain, there aren't many free snaps to give them. Germone Hopper's 300 snaps will be distributed, but I think a lot of those will go to some combination of Ray-Ray, Trevion Thompson, Deon Cain, and the freshman depending on the exact play calls. Unless one of the freshman shows up and really outclasses some of the existing players all 3 could redshirt. My guess is 1 or 2 of them ultimately redshirt. That said, the future continues to be bright for our wide receivers and the loss of experience isn't huge. Receiver may be our best position in terms of spreading experience across years of eligibility as you can see below.