McEachern High School (Powder Springs, Georgia) head coach Franklin Stephens has plenty of weapons on his offense, including four-star wide receiver – and class of 2021 Clemson commitment – Dacari Collins.

Stephens knows that Collins has a lot of potential and a high ceiling but wants to see the 6-foot-4, 200-pound junior learn to make the most of his size and ability.

The Clemson Insider visited McEachern High on Friday night to watch Collins play as part of our Tour of Champions and caught up with Stephens about his star wideout following McEachern’s 53-15 win over East Coweta (Sharpsburg, Georgia).

“It’s nice to have a kid who’s 6-3, 6-4, 200-something pounds that can catch the football, run with the football and do some different things,” Stephens said. “We’ve still got to get Dacari to the point where he’s maturing and understands what he can do, because right now he’s still trying to figure it out. He doesn’t know all the things that he can do, especially with his size on the football field on Friday nights.

“So, that’s the big thing with him. He’s a great weapon, does a great job in the classroom for us. But we’ve got to get him to understand, you’re a 6-4, 200-something pound wide receiver – you’ve got to be able to use that in a lot of different ways on Friday night.”

After receiving an offer from Clemson in June, Collins committed to the Tigers last month over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and South Carolina among others.

Once he gets to Clemson in 2021, Collins will blend right in with the other members of “Wide Receiver U” as another big, athletic wideout.

“What is Clemson getting? I think they’re getting a kid, that as he continues to mature and get larger, faster and really learn the game of football, they’re going to get a very good football player,” Stephens said.

Off the field, Collins has a quiet personality and does not say a whole lot, but simply goes about his business and has the type of character that the Tigers look for in their recruits.

“He’s going to come in, he’s going to take care of his academics, so you don’t have to worry about that, you don’t have to worry about what he’s doing out in the streets or anything along those lines,” Stephens said. “So, he’s just a good solid kid.”

After the 2019 season, Stephens will still have one more year to coach Collins at McEachern. But when Collins moves on to Clemson, Stephens has no doubt that he will be in good hands with Swinney and his staff.

“Just having coaches come through from Clemson and just talk about how much they like working for Coach Swinney, I think that’s important,” Stephens said. “One of the selling points is not sometimes Clemson — it’s the fact that it’s Coach Swinney. As a head coach, when your guys are going in that direction, you know they’ll be taken care of.”

We are pleased to announce a new partnership with Fanatics.  This is great news for Tiger fans as they have the officially licensed Clemson gear.

The Clemson Insider will get a portion of all sales so get ready for another championship season by ordering your Clemson gear today and help support TCI.