What happened to WRU? We asked Brandon Streeter

Clemson offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter says the offense just distributing the ball to a wider variety of targets.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Nov 17 11:32:03 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – A stat popped up last weekend that Clemson was just one of five Power 5 teams not to have a 100-yard receiver during a game this season. For a place that prides itself on being Wide Receiver U, and with the hardware and stats to back that up, it almost seemed inconceivable.

So what happened to WRU? Ask ten different people and you’ll likely get 10 different answers: The play-calling is suspect. The offensive line can’t hold a block long enough. The wide receivers aren’t as good as they used to be.

During our media availability with offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter this week, I threw that number his way, and the number that Clemson is one of the few teams that doesn’t have a 500-yard receiver on the season, and asked what in his mind has caused the numbers to dip.

(For the record, Antonio Williams was close last week, posting double-digit catches for the first time with 10, and he had 83 yards. He is also the closest to 500 yards, with 43 receptions for 473 yards).

Streeter responded that he thinks it’s because the Tigers are spreading the ball around to different position groups.

“I think No. 1, our tight end room is very, very good, so that is allowing us to spread the ball out not just to our receivers,” Streeter said. “I don't even know if this is true or not, but I'm guessing our running backs have more catches than we have in the past. I know our tight ends have more catches than they have in the past. I love that about our offense because now we can spread the ball around and not it be one or two or three receivers that are making those plays.”

Indeed, tight end Davis Allen is second on the team with 28 receptions (for 339 yards), wide receiver Joseph Ngata is third with 26 catches (for 378 yards), and running back Will Shipley is fourth with 25 receptions for just 168 yards. Then it’s wide receiver Beaux Collins (20-308) and tight end Jake Briningstool (17-195) as the only other receivers with double-digit receptions.

“I think I really enjoy the fact that we're able to highlight different position groups and be able to have go to plays for different types of guys,” Streeter said. “We're always going to have great wide receivers here, there's no question about it but just being able to spread the ball around, I think it really keeps the defense guessing on where you're trying to throw the football. They can't focus on one or two guys because we've got several guys who are very close as far as receptions.”

Two years ago the split was almost the same way – Amari Rodgers and Cornell Powell led the team with receptions, but they had 77 and 53. Then it was Travis Etienne, and he had a whopping 48, followed by Braden Galloway with 27. There were four other players with double-digit receptions, one tight end and three receivers.

In 2018, the Tigers had four players with 46-plus receptions, all wide receivers.

We can get into the numbers later – after the season when we take a deeper dive – but attempts per game are not that far apart. If you look at Trevor Lawrence in 2020, he had 34 attempts per game, and DJ Uiagalelei is at 30 attempts per game this season. But Lawrence was at 9.4 yards per attempt, while Uiagalelei is just above seven. Fewer shots down the field? Less big plays? Indeed, Clemson has just three offensive plays this season of over 50 yards.

I think we can all agree that wide receiver recruiting has to pick up to get more playmakers in the fold. And there has to be more shots down the field. But it will be interesting to pick this conversation back up at the end of the season and see how it all shook out.

For now, I’d love to hear your thoughts.