As Clemson prepares to start fall camp in a couple of weeks, the Tigers are looking for a slot receiver to run out with Joseph Ngata and Beaux Collins on the outside.

Tyler Grisham has someone at the top of the depth chart.

Grisham said Brannon Spector enters camp as the No. 1 option in the slot. Spector missed all of last season with an injury and complications from COVID-19, but Clemson’s receivers coach said Spector has earned the distinction for the time being with the way he’s performed during the spring and summer.

“Right now, he’s walking out there first at that slot,” Grisham said. “I’m so thrilled for him, and he wants it. He’s like, ‘Coach, I want to start. And I’m like, ‘Go earn it,’ So far, he’s showing that he deserves to run out there first, and he will.”

The brother of former Clemson linebacker Baylon Spector, younger Spector took on a larger workload this spring than Clemson’s coaches expected in part because E.J. Williams (knee) wasn’t available. Spector hadn’t played a down of competitive football in more than a year before his return, but Grisham said the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder “impressed everybody” with his play.

“I was like, ‘All right, Spec, I’m going to take care of you as best I can, but understand you’re starting Day of spring practice,'” Grisham said, recalling a conversation he had with Spector then. ” I tried my best, but he got more reps than he anticipated. But I think what happened is he was so encouraged by that because he was able to maintain. There were times where he was like, ‘Coach, I need a rep (to rest) and tap out.’ And that’s fine. We’re trying to get him back, but he did so much more and so much better than maybe we anticipated coming off missing an entire season.”

Williams, whom Grisham said is expected to be full go come the start of camp, and true freshman Antonio Williams will also compete at the slot position, but it’s Spector’s job for now.

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