By Hale McGranahan.

The future of the tight end position at Clemson appears to be in pretty good shape.

After sending a pair of tight ends off to the NFL — Michael Palmer and Dwayne Allen — Clemson has landed some of the nation’s best tight end recruits and more are on the way.

Redshirt senior Sam Cooper is scheduled as the only departure from the position group after this season. Heading into Thursday night’s trip to Wake Forest, Cooper has 18 catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns over 43 career games.

In 2015, Stanton Seckinger will be a redshirt senior, so will Roderick Byers, who was moved over from the defensive line earlier this season.

Seckinger has split time between wide receiver and tight end because of injuries this season. He’s caught five passes for 68 yards and a score in 2014. Heading into this season, he had 25 receptions for 279 yards and five touchdowns.

Byers has yet to make a catch during his two-game stint as a player on the offensive side of the ball. Before the Boston College game, Dabo Swinney announced that Byers would make the move from defensive line to offensive line. Since then, Byers has donned the No. 40 jersey and served as a blocking tight end. According to the school’s official website, he’s a tight end.

Jordan Leggett and Jay Jay McCullough will be juniors next year. Leggett hasn’t taken a redshirt at Clemson, but McCullough has. So far this season, they have 10 and seven catches, respectively. Leggett has 131 yards receiving with a score while McCullough has 96 and a touchdown.

Redshirt freshman D.J. Greenlee has played sparingly in 2014, but his season was cut short a few days ago by an ACL tear.

The additions in the 2014 signing class — Milan Richard and Cannon Smith — will redshirt this year.

Richard was ranked by Rivals as the No. 6 tight end in the country. For his high school career, he caught 78 passes for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns.

The No. 7 tight end in the country, according to Scout, Smith caught 66 passes for 1,154 yards with 10 touchdowns during his high school career. Listed at 6-4, 240 pounds, Smith could make the move from tight end to offensive line at some point during his Clemson career.

A pair of tight ends are committed to Clemson, one for the 2015 class and another for 2016.

Garrett Williams, the 2015 pledge, is on track to graduate from The First Academy in Orlando in December and enroll at Clemson in January. A four-star prospect, according to ESPN, he’s ranked as the No. 2 tight end in the country. Before heading to Tigertown, Williams will play in the Under Armour All-American game.

J.C. Chalk, who was Clemson’s first 2016 commitment, is a three-star, according to the 247 composite ratings. The grandson of Gene Stallings, Swinney’s coach at Alabama, Chalk has taken visits to Clemson, Texas A&M and Ole Miss this season. In addition to Ole Miss, Chalk has offers from Arizona State, Duke and Texas Tech.