Christian Wilkins has been as advertised during his first season at Clemson.

Through 14 games as a freshman, Wilkins has 30 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Three of his tackles were in the 37-17 Orange Bowl win over Oklahoma.

None were bigger than the 31-yard catch he hand in the first quarter, which setup the Tigers’ first touchdown of the night.

“I’d always joked with them saying, I’m the only one that could possibly make this offense any better,” Wilkins said. “I mean, just throw me in at fullback or that slot receiver, if I could fit in the slot.”

Apparently, he’s good enough to be apart of Jeff Scott’s #WRU movement, too.

https://twitter.com/coach_jeffscott/status/682760996440555520

Wilkins was all smiles about Andy  Teasdall’s pass.

“It felt like it was up there for a minute-and-a-half,” he said. “I’m sure when people saw Andy rolling out and he pulled up throw, they’re like, ‘Oh, no, not again, Andy. What are you doing?'”

He added, “But he makes a better quarterback than a running back. That ball was hanging up there forever. I was like, when is it going to come? It finally got to me.”

Clemson’s coaches added the play to the book on the first day of fake punt installation.

“I mean, I was excited once I heard the call in the huddle and coach Swinney gave us the call. I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to go out there and make a play for this team,” Wilkins said. “It was there. We knew that would have the opportunity to run it, because of the way they play their safe punt.”

It certainly caught everyone else by surprise. Not many big guys get a chance to make plays in the downfield passing game. And not many punters are asked to execute a fake punt on the heels of some disastrous improvisation in the ACC title game.

“That’s thing. I’m sure no one was expecting it. That was probably the last thing they were thinking about, for sure,” Wilkins said.