For at least 10 minutes on Saturday, every one of the 81,345 people packed into Death Valley stood silent and worried after Clemson wide receiver Mike Williams ran into the protected padding on the goal post head first following his first-quarter touchdown reception.

“You hate that,” Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. “When you have these high caliber athletes play fast, there are a lot of collisions and things that happen in game. You know it is a possibility.”

It was a scary sight as doctors and trainers looked over Williams before calling for a stretcher. They removed his helmet and his shoulder pads carefully, while securing his head and feet on the stretcher. But while they carted him off the field on his way to boarding an ambulance that was waiting for him in the visitors’ tunnel, Williams gave the sellout crowd a thumbs up.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said after the game the injury was a neck sprain. As for Williams he was back in the locker room with his teammates celebrating their 49-10 victory over Wofford three hours later.

“We knew he was fine. We know he’ll be back,” Clemson running back Wayne Gallman said. “It wasn’t anything serious. He already told us to get back to work. We all know Mike, he’s straight.”

Williams was taken to Oconee Medical Center in nearby Seneca where he had an MRI which came back negative for any damage.

Though Williams’ day was done, it wasn’t for the rest of the wide receivers. In all, 12 different players caught a pass—10 wide receivers—on Saturday, including eight from wide receiver Ray Ray McCloud, who had 80 yards with a long of 32, and six from Artavis Scott, who had 75 yards to go along with one touchdown.

“That’s why we have eight guys in our group. We talk about it all the time, we are not going to go through a whole season without someone getting hurt,” Scott said. “We cross train a lot of guys. You hate it for Mike because he has worked extremely hard in the off-season and in fall camp.

“But the best news right now is not about football. He is up and moving around and he is going to be fine in that extent. I have full confidence that we have plenty of receivers that will be able to get the job done until he gets back.”

Special start. How special was Mitch Hyatt start at left tackle today?

He is the first Clemson true freshman to start the first game of the season at offensive tackle since Phil Prince started the opener against Presbyterian in 1944.

Hyatt is also the first true freshman to start the season opener at any offensive line position since James Farr started the 1980 season opener at center against Rice.

He is also the first freshman (true or red-shirt) to start the season opening game at any offensive line position since Nathan Bennett against Georgia in 2003. Bennett was a red-shirt freshman.

Hyatt is just the third true freshman to start the season opener at any position under Dabo Swinney.  The others are Chandler Catanzaro (2010, PK) and Adam Humphries (2011, WR).

Since freshman eligibility returned to college sports for the 1972-73 academic year, Hyatt is the ninth freshman (red-shirt or true) offensive lineman to start the season opener. The others are Gary Brown (1979, OT), James Farr (1980, C), Frank DeIuliis (1985, OT), 1987 Eric Harmon (1987, OG), Jim Bundren (1994, OG), Glenn Rountree (1994, OG), Jermyn Chester (2000, OG), Nathan Bennett (2003, OG). All were red-shirt freshmen other than Farr.

Running hard. Clemson running back Zac Brooks had a difficult camp as he suffered feet and other nagging injuries that held him out for much of the two weeks. But despite those injuries, he ran the ball hard when he got the chance on Saturday.

Brooks finished the game second on the team in rushing with 52 yards on seven carries, including a 25-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. That gave the Tigers a 35-0 lead with 5:16 to play in the second quarter.

The touchdown was the junior’s third of his career and the first since October 5, 2013 at Syracuse.

Brooks missed all of last season with a broken foot suffered in the last week of camp prior to the Georgia game.

Norton’s knee appears okay. Clemson center Ryan Norton suffered a knee injury early in the second quarter and he did not return on Saturday. Swinney said after the game the injury does not appear to be serious.

Swinney said he will know more about the extent of the injury on Sunday.