Clemson Forward Announces His Return
By: Gavin Oliver April 20, 2026

Carter Welling will be back in Tigertown next season.

The 6-foot-11, 240-pound forward announced via Instagram on Monday that he’s returning to Clemson for his senior season in 2026-27.

“Staying in Tiger Town 🐅” Welling wrote.

Welling suffered a torn ACL during Clemson’s win over Wake Forest in the second round of the ACC Tournament on March 11. Welling’s timeline for a return from the ACL tear is unclear at this point, so it remains to be seen how big of a role he’ll be able to play next season. But he is not transferring. The 2026 men’s college basketball transfer portal will officially close on Tuesday.

Clemson head coach Brad Brownell and forward Carter Welling (22) after the Tigers’ 69-59 win over Miami on January 17, 2026 at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C. (Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider)

Prior to the injury, Welling appeared in 32 games for the Tigers this past season, including 24 starts. He averaged 10.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.8 steals per contest while shooting 49.3 percent from the field, 29.3 percent from three and 70.1 percent from the foul line.

Welling came to Clemson after spending the 2024-25 campaign at Utah Valley. As a sophomore, he started all 32 of his team’s games, averaging 13.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.8 blocks per game. He was named All-WAC second-team, as well as the WAC Defensive Player of the Year.

The Draper, Utah native played his freshman season (2023-24) at UC Irvine, averaging 7.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 30 games (10 starts).