His 57 yards on those grabs brought his career total to 2,270, which passed Jerry Butler (1975-78) for 12th all-time. With games left to play, Williams is within striking distance of Derrick Hamilton (2,312) and Justyn Ross (2,379) to push into the top 10.
“He’s different than Sammy, he’s different than Mike (Williams), he’s different than Nuk (Hopkins), he’s different than Tee (Higgins), he’s different than Hunter (Renfrow) … but he’s as good as any of them,” Swinney said. “He is a complete player and gonna be a great player.”
The Dutch Fork product had an immediate impact as a freshman, leading a less-than-elite Clemson receiving corps with 65 catches for 604 yards.
But Williams wasn’t exactly mature.
“He’ll probably tell you, I was really, really hard on him early in his career. Really hard,” Swinney said. “That’s my job is to push him to become the best version of him. That’s what I’m supposed to do. But he has to decide if he’s going to accept the challenge.
“And, boy, did he. He’s become an amazing leader.”
There has, obviously, been immense disappointment this season as a team ranked No. 4 in preseason polls went out to a 1-3 start.
A receiving corps stocked with talent, including Williams and sophomores T.J. Moore and Bryant Wesco Jr., wasn’t able to connect with senior quarterback Cade Klubnik.
Just when things started clicking at North Carolina and Boston College, Klubnik missed a game against SMU with an ankle injury, and the Tigers’ late rally behind backup Christopher Vizzina fell short.
Then Klubnik returned against Duke, and Clemson lost a 46-45 shootout.
It’s been one thing after another this season, but the Tigers have finally been able to string together some wins against Florida State, Louisville and Furman. They are bowl eligible again, continuing a streak that goes back to 1999.