Swinney Elaborates on Williams’ Injury

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney held his weekly Tuesday press conference ahead of Saturday’s game against Troy.

Swinney elaborated on star wide receiver Antonio Williams’ hamstring injury when asked if there’s any concern about the injury lingering moving forward.

Williams suffered the injury on the second play of Clemson’s second possession in last Saturday’s loss to LSU and did not return to the game.

“There’s always concern. Any time you have any type of soft-tissue type injuries and things like that, especially with a skill player, you’re always concerned,” Swinney said on Tuesday.

With that said, Swinney added that he doesn’t believe the injury is “severe.”

“I mean, Antonio will do what he needs to — I don’t think it’s severe,” Swinney said. “He’ll do what he needs to do, to get himself back.”

During his weekly radio show Monday night, Swinney labeled Williams’ status as “day-to-day” heading into Saturday’s game against Troy.

As for who would replace Williams as the starting slot receiver if he isn’t able to play, Swinney said that would be redshirt sophomore Tyler Brown, who caught four passes for 43 yards against LSU.

“That was another positive in the game. I thought Tyler played well,” Swinney said.

Last season, in his third year at Clemson, Williams recorded career highs with 75 receptions, 904 receiving yards and 11 receiving touchdowns across 14 games (all starts) en route to first-team All-ACC honors.

Williams, who was a freshman All-American in 2022, entered this season with 153 career receptions for 1,732 yards and 17 touchdowns. He had caught at least one pass in each of the 33 previous games he appeared in while at Clemson, but that streak ended Saturday night, as Williams did not record a reception before exiting the game with his injury.

Saturday’s game against Troy at Memorial Stadium is set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on ACC Network.