Clemson’s season has been about a second chance, something its standout receiver Mike Williams knows a lot about.
The Tigers are in the College Football Playoff for the second season in a row. A year ago they lost 45-40 to Alabama in the national championship game.
But they played that game without Williams, whose season ended in the 2015 season opener when he suffered a season-ending neck injury on a freak play.
The 6-2, 225-pound Williams caught 84 passes for 1,171 yards and 10 touchdowns this season for the Tigers (12-1). He is expected to be one of the first receivers taken in the NFL draft.
After catching 57 passes for 1,030 yards in 2014, he was expected to be a big part of Clemson’s offense last season. Eleven plays into the opener against Wofford changed all that, though.
As he grabbed a 4-yard touchdown throw from quarterback Deshaun Watson, he was shoved from behind, and his head hit on the goal post as he fell to the ground.
It was a scary moment, made even scarier when Williams said later that for a few moments his whole body felt numb.
The diagnosis was that he had a fractured vertebra in his neck. He had to wear a neck brace for several months, and it wasn’t until two months after the injury that he was allowed to do some light running and dumbbell curls.
He returned to the field in spring practice and has been better than ever this season.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney calls him the “most complete” receiver he has had in his nine seasons as the Tigers coach.
“He’s 225 pounds and can run and change direction. He’s a load. He’s going to be a great, great, great pro,” Swinney said at a press conference before the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
“I don’t have to see anybody else out there. This guy — there is none better. I’ve made my living coaching wideouts forever, and there ain’t none better. His size, his length, his toughness, his IQ, his speed and explosiveness is just rare,” he said.
“He would have left (for the NFL) last year if he had not gotten hurt. I don’t have any doubt about that,” Swinney said at Clemson’s bowl media day press conference.
Williams is one of four seniors for Clemson who announced last summer this would be their last season and that they would leave for the NFL with one year of eligibility remaining.
In addition to Watson and Williams, running back Wayne Gallman and receiver Artavis Scott said they were not coming back in 2017.
In a rare move, Swinney allowed the four underclassmen to be honored along with the seniors at Clemson’s Senior Day.
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