Freshmen who could provide a spark for Clemson down the stretch

The Clemson offense could use some help at receiver. Perhaps freshman Cole Turner will provide some down the stretch.

Turner has yet to play in a game this season, but that’s not because of a lack of talent.

Clemson has been saving his games so that he can play late in the season and still maintain his redshirt year. Players are allowed to play in up to four games and still redshirt.

“We’ve been holding him. We’ve kept him with us all year,” Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said. “Cole’s a guy we’ve saved all his games. You’ll see him start to play some down the stretch here. Special teams, receiver, you name it. Here and there we’ll work him in, but really excited about him.”

By “kept him with us all year,” Swinney means that Turner has practiced with the offense, rather than working with the scout team. He has also traveled with the Tigers and gone through pregame warmups this season on the road.

Clemson still has at least four games remaining, and that number could potentially be five if the Tigers can reach the national championship game.

Clemson will host Miami this weekend, before playing South Carolina at home next weekend. On Dec. 3, the Tigers will play North Carolina in the ACC championship game. Clemson will then either close the season with a bowl game or in the playoff.

If Turner does start getting some action, he will join a receiver rotation that features two other freshmen in Antonio Williams and Adam Randall.

Williams leads Clemson in receptions and receiving yards with 43 for 473 yards. Randall missed the start of the season due to injury and has five catches for 61 yards.

“These three freshmen receivers, man, between Adam and Antonio and Cole, I mean I’m really, really excited about them.” Swinney said. “Just who they are, how they work, how natural it is for them to play the game. It’s going to be fun to coach these guys for a few years.”

In addition to Turner, a few other freshmen could get some work late.

Swinney also mentioned linebacker TJ Dudley and offensive lineman Collin Sadler as players who are being redshirted but could still help the Tigers.

“We’ve got some guys that kind of fit in there that we can use if we need. … We’re going to hold Sadler. He was out a couple of games with an injury. Then we made that decision – let’s try to hold him if we can. So that’s kind of where we are. We keep up with all of that. We’ve got it all in there on the board what we can and can’t do. Talk about it each week as we go into each game.”