Wilkins is coming back
By: will-vandervort January 15, 2018

Clemson’s Christian Wilkins, one of the more versatile athletes to ever play at Clemson, has decided he will return to Clemson for his senior season.

By staying, the junior rejoins his teammates on the defensive front in Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant, who decided to return to school on Saturday. With Dexter Lawrence, the four combined for 25 of the Tigers’ 46 sacks and 45 of the team’s 109 tackles for loss.

Wilkins returns as a graduate senior. He graduated from Clemson last month, becoming the first scholarship athlete in Clemson history to graduate in two and a half years.

He has recorded 195 tackles so far in his three-year career at Clemson, a career that has seen him earn All-American and All-ACC honors at defensive tackle and at defensive end the last two years.

Because of an injury to Bryant prior to the start of the 2016 season, Wilkins moved out to defensive end where he had an All-American season in leading the Tigers to the national championship. He had 56 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 3.4 sacks, while also pressuring the quarterback 20 times. He also knocked down seven passes.

Wilkins moved back inside prior to the 2017 season, and he did not miss a beat. He had 55 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. He also had 11 more quarterback pressures and knocked down four more passes.

He totaled 8 tackles in the loss to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Wilkins is also remembered for his toe-tapping sideline act in the 2016 Orange Bowl Classic vs. Oklahoma. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive player became the first defensive lineman n Clemson history to catch a pass, a 31-yard gain off a fake punt to spark the Tigers in victory.

The next year, he caught a pass 1-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson vs. Troy, and then ran for a first down on fake punt vs. NC State.

Wilkins will be presented the Willis Award as the top Defensive Lineman in the nation by the Columbus (Ohio) Touchdown Club in February. He was named a first-team All-American this year by Sporting News and the American Football Coaches Association and a second-team selection by Associated Press and the Walter Camp Foundation.