Usually when a team loses a player who caught 98 passes for 1,361 yards and scored 11 touchdowns, such as Clemson’s Mike Williams, one might think he would be a tough person to replace. However, Clemson is not most teams, especially when it comes to the wide receiver positions.
Despite losing a top 10 draft pick, the reigning national champions are loaded with talent at wide receiver, from national championship hero Hunter Renfrow to Ray Ray McCloud to Cornell Powell to Trevion Thompson and to Diondre Overton, the Tigers are loaded. And, let’s not forget, Deon Cain.
With Williams gone to the NFL, Cain steps to the forefront as the Tigers’ big-play threat for 2017. The rising junior showed countless times this past season how explosive he can be, including his five-catch 94-yard performance against Alabama in the national championship game.
It was Cain, while Williams was banged up on the sideline, that got the Clemson offense going when he took a screen pass from quarterback Deshaun Watson and turned it into a 43-yard catch-and-run, setting up Watson’s eight-yard touchdown run a few plays later. The Tigers had just 72 total yards and five first downs prior to his catch. From that point on, they rolled up 439 yards, 26 first downs and 35 points against the nation’s top-ranked defense.
“It was just a little something to let you guys know what you are going to see me more of next year,” Cain said. “It lets me know that I am a dominant player and I can do anything to help my offense, and at the end of the day I just want to keep contributing.”
Cain finished the year with 38 catches for 724 yards and nine touchdowns. His 19.1 yards per catch average was tops on the team, while his yardage was third and his touchdowns ranked second.
Though Cain will be the big-play threat vertically, McCloud showed at different times this year he can make big plays too. He finished third on the team with 49 catches for 472 and scored two touchdowns. He also had a 74-yard punt return.
The only thing Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott will want to see from his rising junior is a little more consistency.
When it comes to being consistent, no one is more consistent than Renfrow, who caught the winning touchdown in the national championship game. Also a rising junior, Renfrow hauled in 44 passes for 495 yards and scored six touchdowns. He did miss four games due to a broken hand, but against Alabama he caught a career-high 10 passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
In two national championship games against Alabama, Renfrow has 17 receptions for 180 yards and four touchdowns.
Thompson, who really started to come along late in the season, will miss the spring as he recovers from a broken wrist that required surgery after the ACC Championship game. He caught 11 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown before being injured.
Powell and Overton both saw playing time and showed flashes of what they can do. Powell played in nine games and caught 12 passes for 87 yards, while Overton played in eight games and caught two passes for 48 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown.
After redshirting this past season, T.J. Chase will also be available for practice in the spring. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound wideout from Plant City, Florida was rated as the 10th best player coming out of Florida his senior year. He scored at least one touchdown in each of his last seven games during his senior year of high school.
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