Tristan Smith was one of three college football players who Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney signed through the transfer portal during the offseason, doing the unthinkable. Over the weekend, on the first day of spring practice, the incoming junior wide receiver loomed over his new teammates!
Although he seems to be six feet five, his efforts in the weight room this winter will be crucial because he wants to be a slender man who can take on SEC defenders when the College Football Playoffs begin in December.
After starting his collegiate football career with two seasons at Hutchinson Community College, Smith—a former zero-star recruit—caught 16 catches for 231 yards and two scores in 17 games. At six feet five, he had a lot of room to grow on the field, and Southeast Missouri State allowed him to move up even if his stats did not immediately leap off the page. It was quite successful.
Smith caught 76 passes for 934 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games, helping the Redhawks win the Big South-OVC Football Association. Last season, he was among the top 20 in the FCS with 84.9 receiving yards per game.
Before this most recent summer, Clemson has only signed two backup quarterbacks and lost forty-three players to the transfer portal since 2021. That was it. Every single athlete that Dabo Swinney offered, who weren’t exactly few in the first place, was let down.
This year, that was different! Smith, former Purdue defensive lineman Will Heldt, and former Alabama linebacker Jeremiah Alexander were the three transfer players signed by the Tigers. In school history, Tristan Smith was the first non-quarterback transfer to enroll via the transfer site.
He will be practicing with his new squad in the spring after arriving on school at the start of the semester.
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