Former Clemson WR headed to the Big Ten

A month after entering the transfer portal, former Clemson receiver EJ Williams has found his new home.

Williams has committed to Indiana, he announced on social media Friday afternoon.

The Alabama native entered the portal after spending three seasons at Clemson. He appeared in 13 games this past season, catching seven passes for 70 yards.

Williams signed with Clemson as a four-star recruit in the class of 2020 and was viewed as one of the best receivers in the country at the time.

A high school teammate of former Tigers star Justyn Ross, Williams battled injuries each of the past two seasons.

While his time at Clemson did not go as planned, Williams’ time with the Tigers got off to a promising start.

He caught 24 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns as a true freshman in 2020, including catching four passes for 80 yards and a score in the ACC championship game against Notre Dame that season.

However, EJ Williams totaled less than 80 yards each of the next two seasons as he was hampered by injuries and lacked the same explosiveness. He also struggled with drops in 2022.

Williams is one of 10 Clemson players to enter the portal from the 2022 Tigers team, joining linebacker Sergio Allen, linebacker LaVonta Bentley, receiver Dacari Collins, cornerback Fred Davis, running back Kobe Pace, defensive end Kevin Swint, quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, quarterback Billy Wiles and defensive tackle Etinosa Reueben.

While several players have entered the transfer portal for the Tigers this offseason, Clemson has also had a number of players announce that they are returning for one more year.

The Tigers had three seniors announce that they will use their COVID-19 year and stay with Clemson for 2023 on Thursday in defensive end Xavier Thomas, cornerback Sheridan Jones and safety Jalyn Phillips. Defensive end Justin Mascoll is also coming back for another season.

Clemson finished 11-3 this past season, winning the ACC championship for the seventh time in eight years.

However, the Tigers went 0-3 against non-ACC Power 5 teams.

This is an important offseason for Dabo Swinney’s program, which also lost several players to the transfer portal.

You can keep up with all of Clemson’s offseason roster moves here.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay? The school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.