How Clemson receivers Beaux and Dacari Collins can take next steps in second season
Injuries to Clemson’s wide receivers in 2021 created a surprise situation for two freshmen.
While neither Beaux Collins nor Dacari Collins — no, they’re not related — expected to necessarily be a playmaker right away, both were given more opportunities on the field as the season progressed.
Beaux Collins started his first collegiate game against Pitt. He then started the final five games of the year after Joseph Ngata was shut down due to a foot injury. Beaux’s transition was smooth, finishing the year with the second-most receptions (31) and the third-most receiving yards (407).
The Southern California native and high school teammate of quarterback DJ Uiagalelei became one of seven freshmen under head coach Dabo Swinney to have at least 30 receptions and 400 yards their first season. The others were DeAndre Hopkins (2010), Sammy Watkins (2011), Artavis Scott (2014), Hunter Renfrow (2015), Deon Cain (2015) and Justyn Ross (2018).
“Beaux was ahead last year, right out of the gate,” said Swinney, who compared Beaux to Sammy Watkins four months ago. “I mean, this kid was ready to play the day he got here.”
Dacari Collins’ chance came when Frank Ladson (now with Miami) and EJ Williams both struggled with injuries. The Atlanta native went from playing a combined 13 snaps against Syracuse, Pitt and Florida State to starting against Wake Forest, South Carolina and Iowa State, playing 70, 43 and 42 snaps, respectively. He ended the year with 221 yards on 16 catches.
“Dacari had a little more blossoming to do and really finished well and came on at the end of the year,” Swinney said.
The unexpected but welcomed experience of gaining major playing time in their first year has put Dacari and Beaux Collins even further ahead of the curve for this spring and fall. The biggest area of improvement, however, would be honing in on the details.
“Becoming a little more technically advanced in their route running, breakpoints and influencing what they’re doing and just understanding defense a little bit better,” Swinney said. “You’ve got to understand defense to be a great route runner.”
Dacari and Beaux will be two of the Tigers’ 10 scholarship wide receivers this coming season, one of the larger receiving groups Clemson’s had in a while. That also includes freshmen Adam Randall, a midyear enrollee, Antonio Williams and Cole Turner.
Clemson also gets back Brannon Spector, who sat out the 2021 season with breathing complications associated with COVID-19. Swinney noted how good Spector has looked in a week’s worth of spring practices. In the practices media members were allowed to view, the redshirt junior was with the first-team unit along with Beaux Collins and Ngata.
“You forget how fast he is, how explosive he is, big and strong,” Swinney said of Spector, the younger brother of now-graduated Tigers linebacker Baylon Spector. “Doing a good job of creating depth and cross-training guys where you can. That’s been really good.”
Outside of EJ Williams, who’s out after having a knee scope, and Ngata, who Swinney is still hoping will break out, the Collins duo provides the most experience for a deep growth primed to improve upon last season’s showing.
“Both of them just continue to be who they are. They’re both great,” Swinney said of Beaux and Dacari Collins. “They’re on their way, so just continue to grind and show up every day with that hunger.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 4:04 PM.
