Top WR target talks Scott’s departure, latest in recruitment
By: Gavin Oliver December 21, 2019

After signing Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco five-star quarterback DJ Uiagalelei as part of the 2020 class, Clemson is a contender to land his teammate, four-star wide receiver Beaux Collins, in the 2021 class.

Collins — one of Clemson’s top targets at his position in the next recruiting cycle — caught four passes from Uiagalelei for 102 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown, last Saturday to help St. John Bosco beat De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) for the CIF Open Division state championship.

“All the hard work we put in this year, at the end of last year starting off, it’s just a great feeling knowing that we’re on top now,” Collins told The Clemson Insider.

Collins (6-4, 195) is pleased with how he performed as a junior this season but wants to eliminate some mistakes heading into his senior campaign in 2020.

“It went great. I reached a goal of getting 1,000 yards on the season,” he said. “One of the things I wanted to improve on was I had too many dropped balls in my opinion. I don’t know the exact amount, I forgot, but it was a little too much.”

The No. 3 receiver and No. 34 overall prospect in the 2021 class per the 247Sports Composite rankings, Collins is seeing his hard work pay off as he continues to rack up scholarship offers and now has well over two dozen of them.

“Everything’s great right now,” he said of the recruiting process. “I picked up Stanford and Oklahoma this past week, so it’s been doing really well.”

Collins was caught off guard earlier this month when he found out that Jeff Scott, formerly his primary recruiter for the Tigers, was named the new head coach at South Florida.

However, Collins says Scott’s departure doesn’t impact Clemson’s chances with him, and he is still high on Dabo Swinney’s program.

“He did not notify me that he was going to go there, but it really doesn’t change anything for me,” he said. “I still love Coach Swinney and all the other coaches that are out there and the environment.”

Scott’s replacement as Clemson’s receivers coach, Tyler Grisham, recently reached out to Collins.

“He’s just been trying to get to know me pretty well,” Collins said. “Now that they have changed, since Coach Scott left, he just wanted to touch base with me letting me know that everything is still rolling basically.”

Collins likes what he knows about Grisham, who played receiver for the Tigers from 2005-08 before going on to win a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009.

“I think he’s a great dude,” Collins said. “I saw he played in the league for a couple years, went to the Super Bowl and things like that. So, he’s just a very experienced coach.”

Collins visited Clemson for the Florida State game in October and will likely return for the program’s elite junior day next month, while he is looking to check out a few other schools as well.

“I haven’t planned any officially, but I’m thinking of getting out to maybe Auburn, Oklahoma, Stanford, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be out to Clemson on the 25th,” he said.

Collins said he currently does not have a timetable for his commitment decision.

What does he hope to get out of his next visit to Clemson?

“Just seeing a couple more recruits that are in my class,” he said. “Seeing guys that I would go there with and just have fun with them.”

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