Young Wideouts Got Better as Spring Went Along
By: Will Vandervort April 7, 2026

CLEMSON — Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney wishes he had seven more days of spring practice.

Why?

“We got better and better and better as the spring went,” he said.

Swinney is talking about his offense, which is learning a new, but old offense, under new offensive coordinator Chad Morris. The Tigers struggled to begin the spring, as expected, but by the end, when they wrapped things up in the Orange & White Spring Game, the offense was much better and started to get into a rhythm.

“It has been great. There has been a lot of enthusiasm,” Swinney said.

The area where Swinney saw the Tigers grow a lot in the spring was at quarterback, where they have to replace three-year starter Cade Klubnik, who is now off to the NFL.

“I think we have a good situation there,” he said.

That situation has seen redshirt junior Christopher Vizzina and true freshman Tait Reynolds come out of the spring as the clear No. 1 and No. 2 quarterbacks. Swinney said Vizzina will go into the summer in pole position, but the competition between the two is very wide open.

At running back, Swinney likes what he has seen in that competition, as well. Gideon Davidson comes out of the spring as the top running back, but SMU transfer Chris Johnson, Jr., is on his heels, as is reserve David Eziomume.

Clemson wide receiver Gordon Sellars III (19) looks for open space during Clemson’s Orange & White Spring Game on Saturday, March 28, 2026 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. (Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider)

Freshmen, like Naeem Burroughs, Gordon Sellars and Connor Salmin got a good portion of the work at wide receiver, as well as senior Tyler Brown. Veterans Bryant Wesco, T.J. Moore and Tristan Smith missed most of the spring as they recovered from injuries. Smith was injured in spring workouts, while Moore and Wesco were held out for other injury related reasons.

“You put a lot of pressure on these freshmen because you are trying to evaluate the quarterbacks. Naeem Burroughs, (Sellars) and Salmin, they know nothing and that is kind of a double-edge sword a little bit,” Swinney said. “Yeah, that is kind of frustrating in the moment, but that is where we are, but by the end of spring, they got better and better and better. All three of those guys, and JuJu Preston got better.

“They got a ton of reps. They might not have got as many if (the other guys were there.)”