5-star WR Bryant Wesco ready to silence doubters, win championships at Clemson

Clemson is a program that has been spoiled with fantastic wide receivers — especially across the past couple of decades. DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins and Mike Williams are just a few of the great pass-catchers that have suited up under Dabo Swinney.

Coming off a disappointing 8-4 campaign this season, the Tigers are looking for a spark. They’re hoping that Midlothian (Texas) five-star WR Bryant Wesco could provide just that.

The 6-foot-2, 170-pounder is the No. 24 overall prospect and No. 7 wideout in the 2024 cycle, per the On3 Industry Ranking. He committed to Clemson on June 6 and remained sturdy in his pledge up until he put pen to paper on Dec. 20.

Ahead of his arrival to campus, Wesco is taking part in the Under Armour All-America Game in Orlando on Jan. 3. He detailed his decision to commit and sign with the Tigers, as well as which programs tried to lure him elsewhere.

“They were able to get me out there and they showed me a lot of great stuff, how they run their program and the reason why they’ve been one of the best schools in the country for a long time now. That’s just one of the programs i’ve wanted to work under — Coach Swinney is a great coach, great figure and is a great coach I want to play under,” Wesco told reporters on Friday.

“I’m just really focused on playing my best and winning championships.”

Wesco ready to help Clemson restore greatness

The Clemson program that dominated much of the 2010s is not what most see following the 2023 season. Amidst changing of the guard and conference realignment, questioning whether or not Swinney can return the Tigers to the top of the mountain is as prevalent as ever. Wesco is hoping to help answer that question with an emphatic yes in the future.

“It does get under my skin a little bit. Everybody has a bad season once in a while, but that doesn’t determine that the school has fallen off or not,” he said. “It’ll be a way for me to go there and bring back — make sure no one has anymore doubts about if Clemson has fallen off or not and make sure that we’re still big.”

Multiple schools kept contact with Wesco and did make the occasional effort to try and flip him away from the Tigers. The likes of Oklahoma, TCU and LSU were all around, while rumors of Texas A&M being around were also mentioned — though Wesco labeled it “majorly overdone.”

Ultimately, nowhere else could compare to Clemson. Wesco found his fit and felt a certain type of effort was being made by the Tigers’ staff that was not being replicated anywhere else.

“Another major part is that, unlike any other school, they were the one school that said they needed me…all the other schools said they wanted one, so it was just a major fit for me,” he said.