Following Clemson’s first stadium scrimmage of fall camp Saturday at Memorial Stadium, head coach Dabo Swinney gave the latest on the Tigers’ talented group of true freshmen wide receivers.

Swinney spoke about where things stand with Noble Johnson, Misun “Tink” Kelley, Tyler Brown and Ronan Hanafin at this point in camp and if they’re on track to contribute this season.

“Noble, Tink and Tyler are really in a good spot,” Swinney said. “Ronan has flashed. He’s made some really good competitive plays, but he’s probably got the most to learn at his position. But I feel really, really good about the progress Noble’s made. He’s had a couple pretty good days together. I think it’s slowing down a little.”

Johnson enrolled early at Clemson in January, while Kelley, Brown and Hanafin arrived on campus this summer.

Ideally, Swinney and the Tigers would like to bring the freshmen wideouts along slowly behind their core group of receivers, something Clemson hasn’t had the luxury of doing with some young players at the position in recent seasons.

“Y’all have heard me say – it’s Beaux (Collins), it’s Antonio (Williams), it’s Adam (Randall) and Cole (Turner) and it’s Spec (Brannon Spector). Those are five guys that we feel like we can go play anybody with,” Swinney said.

“So, it’s about really developing some elite depth after that and hopefully not having to start any of these guys, which we ended up having to do the last couple years. We had to start Beaux before he was really ready to start. We had to start Antonio. We’ve had to do that a little bit with injuries and stuff, so hopefully we can stay healthy and really bring these guys along at the proper pace and develop some elite depth.”

A former top-250 national prospect, Johnson averaged 17.2 yards per catch in his prep career at Rockwall (Texas), while Hanafin is a versatile athlete who contributed in a variety of ways at Massachusetts’ Buckingham Browne & Nichols School.

Brown and Kelley are both local products, with the explosive Brown tallying 34 career touchdowns at Greenville and Kelley helping Daniel to a 36-game winning streak from 2020-22 as a dynamic two-way player.

Swinney said Brown “had a big play” in Saturday’s scrimmage, and Swinney added that Kelley is “just a natural football player” and “a baller” who has “no fear.”

“I’m really, really glad we got those two kids,” Swinney said. “And then Noble is a big-bodied dude that has made progress since the spring. But again, we don’t have to start those guys right now, so we just need them to really develop into the depth players that we need and then hopefully if we needed them midseason or later, they’ll be ready for more.”

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