Clemson Has a Surprising Freshman Who Could Steal a Job

The Clemson Tigers certainly have impressive talent on both sides of the ball heading into the 2026 college football season, and one of their most compelling areas is the wide receiver position.

One of the biggest reasons for that is Clemson's triumvirate of four-star freshmen: Naeem Burroughs, Gordon Sellars and Connor Salmin.

Burroughs is the most highly touted of the bunch and seems to have a good chance of winning the No. 3 receiver job behind T.J. Moore and Bryant Wesco this season. But is it possible a sleeper could emerge?

Grayson Mann of TigerNet thinks so, noting that Sellars appears to be climbing the depth chart as we get closer to Week 1.

Plus, transfer running back Chris Johnson Jr. stated he feels that Sellars has been the most notable freshman thus far in fall camp.

"I'll probably say Gordon Sellars," Johnson said. "He's the type of receiver that you would want, you know, just coming in as a freshman, with his size and what he can do," Johnson said. "I've been very pleased with Gordon, and, you know, really all the young guys, you know, like Naeem, especially those two guys. They definitely caught my eye. They're going to do great things here."

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Sellars was the 26th-ranked wide receiver and the 202nd-ranked player overall in the class of 2026. He absolutely has tremendous potential, but the prevailing thought has long been that Burroughs was well ahead of him.

That might not be the case, and that's certainly no slight to Burroughs. It's just an indication of how good Sellars has looked.

Of course, the Clemson youngsters are facing plenty of competition. Tyler Brown and Tristan Smith are veterans who are both trying to stake their claim to the third receiver slot. So is Cole Turner.

But head coach Dabo Swinney has certainly not been shy about handing significant workloads to freshmen in the past. Heck, just ask Moore, Wesco and Brown.

It will be very interesting to monitor the receiving corps throughout the rest of camp to see if Sellars can actually make a move to steal a job prior to the Tigers' season opener against LSU on Sept. 5.