CLEMSON — There is a reason why Cade Klubnik is a Heisman Trophy candidate.

I guess I should say there are many reasons. He is pretty darn good.

However, one of the reasons he is considered one of the top quarterbacks in college football, and one of the reasons why Clemson is so highly thought of coming into the 2025 College Football season, is because of who he is throwing the ball to.

One can argue Klubnik has the best set of wide receivers in the game, as five of his top six receivers have had at least 500 yards and four touchdowns in a season, including Southeast Missouri transfer Tristan Smith.

“The experience is awesome,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “Our two depth guys (from last year) moved on to other places, so we needed to go get a depth guy and we did. We went and got a kid named Tristan Smith out of Southeast Missouri.

“We went into the spring with five starters, and we came out with six because I think he is that caliber.”

Smith, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 205 pounds, recorded 76 catches for 934 yards and six touchdowns in 2024.

“With Tristan coming in during the spring and able to build some chemistry with Cade, that was important too,” Swinney said.

Smith joins Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco and TJ Moore, along with Tyler Brown and Cole Turner, to form what the Clemson offense calls the ‘Two Waves of Terror.’

It is a situation the Tigers have not been in at the wide receiver positions since they had Mike Williams, Artavis Scott, Hunter Renfrow, Ray-Ray McCloud, Deon Cain, Trevion Thompson, Cornell Powell and Diondre Overton in 2016.  

“We are in a much better place than we have been, really, in the last couple of years because we have six guys that really can start,” Swinney said. “I think, hopefully, what we call ‘Two Waves of Terror’, where we can really play these guys.”

With the exception of Smith, the other five have all played at least one full season together.

“They all have great chemistry. They have all played together now,” Swinney said. “This time last year, Wesco had not played, TJ Moore had not played, Antonio Williams had been out a year, so we had a lot of work to do.”

After a slow start against Georgia last season, Klubnik and his “terror” of receivers broke out against App State in Week 2 and were never really contained from that point on. Williams hauled in 75 passes for 904 yards and 11 TDs, while Moore had 45 catches for 651 yards and 5 TDs.

Wesco tallied 41 receptions for 705 yards and five more scores. Of course, Brown led Clemson with 52 catches and 531 yards and 4 TDs as a true freshman in 2023. He was injured for much of last season and did not play.

“It is a long season, but we have confidence in all of these guys. We really do, all six, then we have the guys behind them that we will develop from there,” Swinney said. “It is a really good group and they have all played together now.

“We have not had this situation in a while. I am excited about it and hopefully, we can hit the ground running with a little precision early in our season.”

The Tigers open the season against LSU on Aug. 30 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson.