Worried about the person, not the player

Jeff Scott isn’t worried about replacing the production Clemson will lose with Mike Williams being sidelined by a fractured neck.

The Tigers’ co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach is more concerned about the person than the player.

“To be honest, I told my wide outs this morning, I haven’t lost any sleep at all about Mike Williams is going to be out — we’re not going to have him for all these games coming up — I haven’t lost any sleep at all,” Scott said. “All my thoughts just been on him and being disappointed for him that he’s not going to be able to be out there.”

Williams will be reevaluated by doctors in six weeks. Exactly when he’ll return to the field is not yet known.

In the meantime, the Clemson wide receiver group will be “perfectly fine” without him.

“I told my guys this morning, there’s not anybody in the country that’s going to feel sorry for the Clemson receivers,” Scott said. “We’ve got plenty of guys. There’s not excuses. That’s why you recruit a lot of guys. Injuries happen. It would be no different if he went out and tore an ACL or something.”

Charone Peake will slide from the starting 5-position to Williams’ spot at the 9. Germone Hopper is now the starter at Peake’s old spot.

“We’re not going to make up for Mike Williams’ production in one player,” Scott said. “The next guy that comes on, now that Mike’s to the side, whether that be Hopper, Trevion Thompson, Hunter Renfrow, Deon Cain or Ray Ray McCloud, they’re not going to be make up for 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns.

“But, as a group, we can make up for that. It’s an extra 100 yards per receiver in that room. It’s an extra 10-yard catch per game. That’s really the message to all the guys in the room.”

At first, Scott didn’t think that would become an issue.

“The first questions — I went through the checklist,” Scott said. “Were his knees OK? Did he break a leg? Are his ankles OK?

“Really, Mike’s kind of been a dramatic guy. He’s gotten banged up before in practice. He ran into a ball machine one time over there in the indoor. He’s always kind of been a dramatic guy when he gets hurt, on the ground. He’s down a little longer than the normal players.

“Really, to be honest, I thought he was going to be OK once I heard it didn’t have anything to do with knees or shoulders or ankles. Then, once we found out it was a little bit more serious, you hate that.”