Last year, Justyn Ross led defending national champion Clemson with 1,000 receiving yards on 46 catches, and he was not even polished as a pass catcher.

This spring, Ross has shined up on his skills and is having the kind of spring his coaches hoped he would have.

“The biggest thing for those guys is that when they are that athletic, they can get away with some things athletically,” co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. “But as you continue to progress, technically you have to improve and what you are starting to see is that technically he is really starting to own the position, whereas before he was a little bit inconsistent from an assignment standpoint. He would make a wow play and then he might not be where he is supposed to be.”

Ross seemed to make more “wow” plays than not. He caught nine touchdown passes as a true freshman while averaging 21.7 yards per catch and he was not even a starter. But Elliott says this spring Ross has become more comfortable and is becoming more of a versatile receiver, which has allowed them to put him in more positions to be successful.

“Which gives us a lot of flexibility and will make him hard to handle when you can have him and Tee (Higgins) on the field at the same time,” Elliott said.

And all of that is leading to more competition between Higgins and Ross. Higgins led the Tigers with 59 receptions last year as well as catching a team-best 12 touchdowns. He had 936 yards.

“They have a competition going between them and it is a healthy competition,” Elliott said. “They both, I believe, understand how good they can be. They are not there, yet. They understand that as well. They have not arrived, so they are pushing each other. Every single day they are coming out wanting to make plays, but at the same time they are rooting on their buddy when he does make a play.

“With that, it is going to give us more flexibility because if they are the best two then they need to be on the field. So, I think as those guys progress, it allows us to be able to get the best guys in the spots we think they can function on the field, which makes us harder to defend.”

And that is good news for the entire Clemson offense.

“What that is going to do, that is going to help your tight end position. That is going to help your third receiver on the field and that is going to help the running game,” Elliott said. “If those guys can continue to have that healthy competition and can continue to develop and continue to push each other. It allows us to be harder to defend.”

And it will make Clemson’s offense even better than last year’s.