Clemson has a great corps of wide receivers. No one doubts it.

Artavis Scott is one of the best wide receivers in the ACC, if not the country. Ray Ray McCloud has already shown some flashes of his brilliance. Charone Peake and Germone Hopper are two savvy veterans, while Deon Caine and Trevion Thompson both have high ceilings.

But something is still missing. That something, or someone, is Mike Williams. It’s been obvious the Tigers’ downfield passing game is missing its 6-foot-4, 210-pound wide receiver.

Williams has been out since the first touchdown of the season when he made a spectacular catch in the back of the end zone against Wofford in Week 1. However, on the way to the ground, he ran into the protected padding on the side of the goal post in the east end zone of Clemson Memorial Stadium. He fractured his neck on the play and has been out ever since.

“Mike Williams is a great player, so anytime you lose a great player you certainly miss him,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said on Wednesday.

Swinney isn’t sure how much longer Williams will be out or if he will come back at all this year. The plan right now is to move on without him, and that is what can be troubling for the Tigers’ downfield passing game.

In last week’s win over Notre Dame, sixth-ranked Clemson had just one completed pass over 15 yards that was thrown downfield – a 24-yard completion to Hunter Renfrow on the game’s first drive.

“We played in a hurricane this past Saturday and there were not big plays on either side of the passing game. Notre Dame’s big plays came on four- and five-yard routes,” Swinney said.

That’s true, but the fact still remains, Clemson isn’t getting the ball down field as much as did a season ago. The Tigers did throw three deep passes against the Irish, but neither was completed. Scott dropped what should have been a 34-yard touchdown, and then Peake allowed a much smaller Notre Dame defender to outplay him for the football and what could have been a 33-yard score.

“We had a big play to Renfrow on a big third down that was down the field. But there were just not a lot of opportunities,” Swinney said. “We dropped a touchdown on a deep ball, but again, they did too. It was just that type of game weather wise.”

The fact is Clemson ranks 10th in the 14-team ACC in passing yards at 211.5 per game heading into this Saturday’s showdown with Georgia Tech.

“The least of my concerns is our ability to throw and catch,” Swinney said. “That is way down the list for concerns for me.

“It is kind of funny to hear that question to be honest with you. Everybody’s concern is we can’t run the ball, and now we are running the ball well – a 100-yard rusher and 200 yards rushing against good teams – and now everybody wants to know why we are not throwing the ball. It is just one of things where ‘Hey, we are focused on winning and doing what we have to do to win week-to-week.’”

Clemson has rushed for 200 or more yards in back-to-back wins over Louisville and Notre Dame. The Tigers had 202 yards against Louisville and 212 against the Irish.

Clemson currently ranks fifth in the ACC in rushing at 194 yards per game, while running back Wayne Gallman ranks fourth in the conference at 105.2 yards per game. Gallman had 139 yards against the Cardinals and followed that up with 111 yards against Notre Dame in a driving rain storm.

“I’m proud of what we did well, and that was manage the game under those circumstances, and rush the ball for 212 yards against a real tough Notre Dame defense,” Swinney said.

The Tigers have had some success getting the ball down field without Williams, though not as much as they could. Six of Deshaun Watson’s nine touchdown passes have been passes down field of 25 yards or longer. Overall, he has completed 14 passes thrown down field of 15 yards or more, including touchdowns of 24, 59 and 41 against App State and touchdowns of 32 and 25 against Louisville.

“Up at Louisville, he had two big-time touchdown passes down the field. Those were huge plays in the game,” Swinney said. “We had two blowouts the first two games where our offense only really played two quarters.”

Last year, Williams averaged 18.1 yards per catch, which was one of the best marks in the ACC. Through four games, Hopper’s 16.7 yards per-catch average is the best, but he only has three catches. Peake, who has replaced Williams, is averaging 15.7 yards per reception.

“I can assure you, we have just as good of a quarterback that there is in the country and there is not a better group of wideouts then what we have here at Clemson,” Swinney said.

Maybe that’s the case, but there has not been any proof of that, yet.