By Hale McGranahan.

Mike Williams has all of the physical tools to turn himself into the next great wide receiver at Clemson.

Entering his second season, Williams will take over first-team duties at the 9-position, the same spot that DeAndre Hopkins occupied during his final two years as a Tiger.

Back when Dabo Swinney, Chad Morris and Jeff Scott were recruiting Williams out of Lake Marion High School that was among the selling points. Come in with a chance to play early and, assuming everything goes according to plan, become the next DeAndre Hopkins.

The Clemson offensive brain trust continues to push him in that direction.

“He’s got the skill set of a Nuk Hopkins type of a guy, he’s got those kinds of ball skills, but he still hasn’t quite got that killer instinct,” Swinney said. “That’s one thing about Nuk, he was going to claw your eyes out to get that ball. He has that killer instinct. He didn’t catch it, he attacked it. Mike wants to catch everything.

“He still doesn’t quite have that attack mentality like I want him to have, so that’s our job as coaches to bring that out of him and teach him the type of intensity you have to play with every play.”

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Swinney added, “There’s no question he’s on the right track.

“He’s way ahead of where Nuk was (at the same stage of his career). When Nuk was a freshman, he was just OK. He was weak. He was 175 pounds, not focused. He was just a great athlete running around out there and catching balls, not technically committed to the position.”

Technically, Williams is as sound as they come.

“Mike’s much further along,” Swinney said. “He was a much better technical player as a freshman. He was a physically better player as a freshman than Nuk was. Whether or not he’ll develop, work like Nuk did, that remains to be seen.”

That’s where Williams wants to be though — mentioned in the same breath as his predecessors: Hopkins, Sammy Watkins and Martavis Bryant.

“Sammy, Nuk, Tay, they left a good legacy,” Williams said. “Just the start of the 2014 chapter, we’re looking forward to writing a good book for y’all.”

Watkins, of course, had one heck of an entry during his three-year run in Tigertown.

“Sammy, he’s a great athlete. I try to take every part of his game and put it with mine,” Williams said. “As you know, he was a complete receiver, played without the ball real well and blocked down the field. That’s what I’m trying to do, play well without the ball.”