Two years ago, Nate Wiggins was part of a Clemson secondary that got exposed in the Tigers’ eventual 51-45 win at Wake Forest during the 2022 season.

Despite the struggles against the Demon Deacons, Wiggins ended up making the game-winning pass breakup in double-overtime, and he has certainly come a long way since that contest in Winston-Salem – making major strides as a cornerback and blossoming into a complete player as a first-team All-ACC selection in 2023.

Wiggins has established himself as an elite cover corner, and now, the long and gifted athlete is widely projected to be a first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid recently joined Kelly Gramlich and Eric Mac Lain on Gramlich & Mac Lain and gave his thoughts on Wiggins entering the draft, which is just a week away. Reid pointed to the game against Wake Forest in 2022 as the “turning point” of Wiggins’ career.

“I say that because they were going after him in that game, and you could tell they figured that he was the weakness in their secondary, and they got him a couple of times. But to close out that game, he was the one that made the key deflection to help them secure that game,” Reid said.

“And that was an awesome game. I actually was at that game, so I’ll never forget DJU (DJ Uiagalelei) making so many plays in that game to help secure it. But I think that was the turning point of (Wiggins’) career, and he was lights out after that. In every single game that he played in following that point, he looked like that shutdown guy.”

Wiggins finished his Clemson career credited by the coaching staff with 50 tackles (3.0 for loss), 24 pass breakups, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, a sack and a blocked field goal over 34 games (18 starts) from 2021-23.

As an all-conference performer last season, Wiggins tallied 25 tackles (one for loss), a team-high nine pass breakups, two forced fumbles, one sack and two interceptions across 10 games (seven starts).

The 6-foot-1, 173-pound speedster scored touchdowns of 98 yards (an ACC Championship Game record) and 46 yards on pick-sixes in 2022 and 2023 respectively, becoming the first Clemson player since Rex Varn in 1977-78 to score on an interception return in back-to-back seasons.

“Now the frame is definitely thin at about right around 175 pounds. But the speed, he can absolutely fly. We saw him run the 4.2 40 at the combine,” Reid said of Wiggins. “But the transition and the movement skills, the athleticism that he has, he’s just such an easy mover. Watching him doing the positional stuff at the pro day, it was just amazing to see his transition skills, getting in and out of his breaks.

“Clemson is notorious for putting defensive guys into the draft and them going on to have plenty of success as well. So, he’s just that next guy in the pipeline.”

Wiggins is ranked as the No. 27 overall prospect and No. 4 cornerback in the final 2024 NFL Draft rankings that Reid released this week, and he sees Wiggins coming off the board in the middle-to-late first round of next week’s draft (April 25-27 in Detroit).

“This isn’t a high-end corner draft. We don’t have that Devon Witherspoon, Sauce Gardner, Derek Stingley type of corner in this draft that’s a bona fide top-10 guy,” Reid said. “So, it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up going in that 15 to 25 range. I think that’s probably where he’ll end up being drafted.”

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