Wide Receiver U? Yes, but Streeter says Tigers are much more than that

Justyn Ross torched Alabama in the title game

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Thu Feb 07 13:01:03 GMT-04:00 2019

CLEMSON – QB University? DEU? LBU? DBU?

Take your pick, but there’s no doubt that Clemson is WRU.

Recruiting high-level wide receivers like Nuk Hopkins, Sammy Watkins, Amari Rodgers, Tee Higgins, Justyn Ross, Joe NgataHunter Renfrow, not only pays dividends for co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Jeff Scott but it also helps quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter.

Streeter told the media on National Signing Day that every position group at Clemson is elite.

After all, the Tigers might have three defensive linemen taken in the first round of the NFL Draft this season with Clelin Ferrell, Christian Wilkins, and Dexter Lawrence. Those three will add to the long list of linemen that have come out of Clemson in recent seasons, including star pass rusher Vic Beasley.

Linebackers? Kendall Joseph and Tre Lamar are headed to the NFL Combine.

Secondary players? Trayvon Mullen will hear his name called in the draft.

Quarterbacks? Deshaun Watson has made a name for himself after only two years in the league, and freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence has taken the nation by storm.

“You can pick the position, and it can be QBU, it can be RBU, it could be OLU,” Streeter said Wednesday afternoon. “We have had unbelievable wide receivers here and continue to have unbelievable wide receivers, but I think all of us coaches could argue that it could be DBU or any position.”

However, it’s undeniable the kind of success that Scott has had with the wide receivers that have come through the Clemson program over the last decade.

Tee Higgins led Clemson with 59 receptions for 936 yards last season, while Amari Rodgers hauled in 55 receptions. It was freshman Justyn Ross who captured the attention of the nation with a stellar College Football Playoff performance, giving the Tigers three of the top wideouts heading into next season.

Add in standouts like Diondre Overton, Derion Kendrick, the return of Cornell Powell and the addition of stars like Ngata and Frank Ladson and Clemson is the place to be if you’re a wide receiver.

“When you have those special players that we've had in the past at receiver and they know the facts of what they are going to get here as a student-athlete and the degree they are going to get from Clemson University and then the opportunity that they will have to play at the next level and then the stats that we can show them of the guys that we have in the NFL, it's incredible,” Streeter said. “There is proof out there that there isn't a better program out there to do that for.”

Having that kind of talent in the wide receiver corps certainly makes Streeter’s job a lot easier.

What quarterback doesn’t want to throw to a bunch of fast, athletic wideouts who catch anything thrown in their direction?

“It makes it very, very intriguing. And, then, for me as the quarterbacks' coach, to go all over the country and sell that, that is such a big selling point with quarterbacks, to say to them, 'Go and compare who you're throwing to with us and whoever else you're looking at because that's a big part of it,’” he said. “Deshaun Watson and Kelly Bryant and Trevor Lawrence, they are great players. They are special players. But the guys that they are throwing to make them even that much better. Just being able to have that is a big security blanket to be able to recruit quarterbacks like that.”