CLEMSON – When a player transfers from another school, especially a smaller school, no one really knows what to expect.

This is the situation surrounding new Clemson wide receiver Tristan Smith.

He came to Clemson from a relatively unknow FCS program called Southeast Missouri State. In the one season he played there, Smith hauled in 76 catches for 934 yards and six touchdowns. Very solid numbers indeed, but again, he did it at an FCS school.

Can Smith do it at Clemson? Can he do it in the ACC? Can he be a difference maker in a game like the LSU game, which the Tigers open with on Aug. 30 at Memorial Stadium.

“Ironically, we both got here at the same time, so I am just building a relationship with him,” Clemson offensive analyst / assistant wide receivers coach Lonnie Galloway said. “He’s learning every day and works hard and wants to please.”

Smith gives Clemson something it has not had in a while at wide receiver. He is 6-foot-5, 205-pounds and can jump out of a building, something he showed when he outleaped a defender and raced 75 yards a touchdown in the Tigers’ spring game this past April.

“He has a good catch radius and can run,” Galloway said, who coached at UNC last year.

Smith ran away from defenders in the spring game, as he tallied 137 yards on five catches.

“Obviously, he was coming from a (smaller) college and was just learning the speed, so it was huge for him,” Galloway said. “To get here in January and be here to spring and go through spring practice was big for him. He had a wonderful spring game and those are some of the things that he did all during spring practices.

“He flashed and showed us that he could make those plays. When you have a guy that’s young like him and hungry, that comes from an FCS school, he wants to show that he’s developed and he’s ready to show out.”

Galloway said it’s refreshing to see a player like Smith come in and work so hard. It teaches the young players on the team that nothing is certain, and they have to work hard to get what they want.

“Cause some guys come in, they got all the five-star ratings and everybody’s talking about them. Then you got a guy like him, that does not even know who he is. That’s one fortunate thing for us, we are able to have a kid like that, you know, he’s not a freshman. So, he’s an older guy.”

Smith is an older guy that wants to come in and compete and wants to be on the field in those tight situations, like in the redzone.

“He shows it every day, to be able to come in and want to learn and then can compete and just gives you an extra weapon out on the field when his time’s called,” Galloway said.