Among the three players Clemson added via the transfer portal this offseason is Tristan Smith.

The senior wide receiver joined the Tigers following a strong season at FCS school Southeast Missouri State in 2024, when he earned second-team Big South-OVC Football Association all-conference honors after catching 76 passes for 934 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games.

Smith has drawn plenty of positive reviews from his new Clemson teammates and coaches over the offseason, and fellow wideout Antonio Williams was the latest to speak highly of Smith.

As Williams alluded to, Smith gives the Tigers something they have not had in a while at wide receiver. He is 6-foot-5, 205 pounds and can jump out of a building, something he showed when he outleaped a defender and raced 75 yards for a touchdown in the Tigers’ spring game this past April.

“Definitely a different frame – 6-5, long. [Can] high point the ball. Strong. Just a different type of receiver that we needed,” Williams said at the 2025 ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte.

“He’s physical. Gonna go up and catch it. But he brings a lot of energy to our group, a lot of personality that we needed.”

Smith ran away from defenders in the spring game, as he tallied 137 yards on five catches.

Last season, Smith’s 76 receptions and 84.9 receiving yards per game ranked among the top 20 in the FCS. He posted three 100-yard receiving games and tallied career highs in receptions (10) and receiving yards (139) while scoring a touchdown against Illinois State in the first round of the 2024 FCS playoffs.

Prior to his time at Southeast Missouri State, Smith spent two years at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College from 2022-23. He had 14 receptions for 140 yards and a touchdown in 10 games in 2023 after catching two passes for 91 yards and a touchdown in seven games as a freshman in 2022.

The area Smith has grown the most in since arriving to Tiger Town, according to Williams, is simply knowing Clemson’s playbook.

“It takes time, but once you are confident and you know what you have to do, that helps you just playing and performing at a high level,” Williams said. “He’s always been focused and had his head on straight, and he knows what he came here for. He came here for a reason. He wants to play, he’s hungry. So, he’s grown well.”