CLEMSON – Adam Randall arrived at a party about six months early last August. And he brought party favors.

The then-junior wide receiver, now senior running back, made a bold statement to his teammates, fans, and the media when he showed up at Clemson’s fall camp last season with “Wide Receiver University” (WRU) shirts to give to members of the wide receiver room.

Once a proud moniker for Clemson, after producing NFL receivers DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins, Adam Humphries, Martavis Bryant, Hunter Renfrow and Tee Higgins to name a few, Randall wanted to bring back the idea that Clemson was “still” WRU.

“I really can see us being one of the top wide receiver units in the country if we go out there and play like how we’re supposed to play,” Randall said to media members during 2024’s fall camp. “I want the guys to know and feel that Clemson is still a place that produces highly talented wide receivers, and that’s what we’re going to show this year.”

But not everyone shared Randall’s optimism.

Across the Upstate of South Carolina, fingers typed furiously on social media platforms and message boards. Fans and critics alike raised eyebrows and clutched pearls, questioning the legitimacy of the WRU claim. Why should the wide receiver room wear shirts declaring greatness when the numbers did not back it up?

And, to a degree, the critique had merit.

In 2023, months before Randall’s t-shirt giveaway, Clemson’s wide receiver corps tallied just 1,932 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, the lowest total since 2010, when a Kyle Parker-led squad posted 1,621 yards and eight touchdowns in the second full season of head coach Dabo Swinney’s tenure.

Injuries gnawed at a depleted group as Antonio Williams, a freshman All-American in 2022, was sidelined for all but four games. Randall played through broken bones in his hand, practicing with boxing gloves to prevent further injury, while redshirt sophomore Troy Stellato continued his recovery from an ACL tear. 

On top of it all, quarterback Cade Klubnik was also adjusting to his first full year as starter.

Still, there were bright spots. Freshman Tyler Brown, for example, caught 52 passes (some one-handed) for 531 yards and 4 touchdowns, earning freshman All-American honors. But overall, after a disappointing 2023 season, doubts remained.

Sure, top-ranked freshmen Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore were coming in, but was it enough to resurrect the WRU brand?

After the first game of the 2024 season against Georgia, it did not appear so.

Outside of a long connection from Klubnik to Williams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, WRU had been virtually silent. Fans again voiced frustration, asking themselves if it was time to revisit old highlight tapes from the glory days of Clemson’s offense.

WRU and company did not think so.

Just one week after the 34-3 loss to Georgia, Clemson hosted Appalachian State, and 80,000 fans in Memorial Stadium let out a collective sigh of relief followed by a roar just minutes after the 8 p.m. kickoff. Klubnik connected with Wesco for a 76-yard touchdown just 90 seconds into the game.

As he ran into the end zone, Wesco raised his arms to Clemson fans who welcomed him to college football with the first “Tiger Rag” chant of the season. With one pass, one touchdown, one run, opinions softened.

And it was not a fluke.

By season’s end, Clemson’s wide receivers had amassed 3,013 yards and 26 touchdowns, with Williams recording 11 touchdowns and Wesco and Moore each adding five of their own.

In several games, the scoring was so high that Clemson’s mascot, the Tiger, could not keep up with the push-ups he traditionally performs for every point scored.

Williams, with 76 receptions, became the first Clemson receiver since Tee Higgins in 2019 to surpass 75 catches. Wesco, despite a midseason injury, torched SMU’s defense in the ACC Championship Game with eight catches and two touchdowns.

In the College Football Playoff against Texas, Clemson’s wideouts made waves again. With touchdowns to Moore, Wesco, and running back Jarvis Green, the Tigers exposed the Longhorns’ defense, which had previously allowed only four passing touchdowns all season.

The once-dismissed wide receivers room had not only silenced critics. They had become a national talking point.

“We played on some of the biggest stages last year,” said wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham. “They feel like they can play with anybody. It’s one thing to have success in practice. We had a really great fall camp. And then game one (we) didn’t quite perform the way we anticipated, but then we came back and man, we had a great run.

“I think the guys tasted that success, and knew they had it in them, but you have to go do it in the game, right? And so they’ve done it.”

Six months after the Texas game, the pendulum has fully swung since last August. Clemson’s wide receivers are now labeled as some of the best in the nation, with PFF.com, ESPN, and On3.com all ranking the Tigers’ wideout unit in the top three for the upcoming season. The personnel remains roughly the same, with the addition of six-foot-five senior Tristan Smith.

But while the hype is growing, Grisham maintains a level-headed approach.

“Sure, through social media and stuff, our guys have access to what’s being said about them and rankings of receiver rooms,” he said this past week in an interview with WCCP The ROAR in Upstate South Carolina. “It doesn’t really matter right? You have to go do it. Coach Swinney knows we’re getting talked about. We’ve had a target on our back for many years, whether it be ‘we suck,’ ‘we’re not very good,’ ‘you’re not going to last,’ or ‘you’re the number one team in the country.’

“The target changes, but there’s still a target. And so for us, it’s more of the same, and being able to put the work in, and be our best. Very simple.”

Randall might have been early to declare Clemson WRU, but the hype has since been contagious. The national conversation may have shifted, but one thing remains the same — the next step is simple.

Prove it.