CLEMSON – If Bryant Wesco, Clemson football’s promising young wide receiver, is to make an instant impact on the Tigers’ fortunes this fall, he may require a little more prep time.

“We’ve got to put him in the crock pot and beef him up a little bit between now and August,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.

Some additional poundage would indeed be a boon to Wesco, who checked in at 170 pounds as a midyear enrollee in January, making him the lightest non-kicker on the Tigers’ roster and the most featherweight scholarship freshman wide receiver under Swinney since 160-pound Joe Craig in 2010.

It’s not imperative that Wesco be 200 pounds plus, but it’s encouraging that he’s moving in the right direction. Swinney says Wesco added “about seven or eight pounds” this spring, and with a 6-foot-2 frame with which to work, there’s room for growth.

Clemson’s six-year run of extraordinary success that spanned the 2015 to 2020 seasons coincided with the presence of rangy, big-bodied receivers possessing considerable heft – players such as Mike Williams, Deon Cain, Justyn Ross and Tee Higgins.

The Tigers made six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances, won two national championships and were runners-up for two more during that stretch. The common denominator? A steady procession of receivers who eventually wound up in the NFL.

Unfortunately for Clemson’s offense, those stars have been followed by an array of four-star signees – namely Frank Ladson Jr., E.J. Williams and Dacari Collins – who never quite lived up to their billing. Ladson, Williams and Collins all transferred with none of the three having caught more than 24 passes in a season.

Last season injuries exacted a heavy toll on the receiver room. Cole Turner played in only two games before suffering a season-ending injury. Injuries also sidelined Antonio Williams for eight games.

Swinney doesn’t want Wesco to suffer a similar fate, which is partly his reasoning for wanting Wesco to “beef up.” Lighter receivers aren’t necessarily more prone to injury, but a bit of extra strength and poundage can be a good thing when linebackers and safeties come calling.

There have been six wide receivers to lead Clemson in receptions as freshmen in 15 seasons under Swinney: DeAndre Hopkins in 2010, Sammy Watkins (2011), Artavis Scott (2014), Ross (2019), Antonio Williams (2022) and Tyler Brown (2023).

Wesco could follow in their footsteps.

He impressed in the spring and received extensive practice time thanks to the absence of Turner and Brown, both of whom were coming off offseason surgeries, and the limited status of Adam Randall, who was injured early in the spring.

If Wesco makes the type of progress that Swinney is hoping for, anything is possible.

“That created a lot of opportunity for Wesco and, man, he took advantage of it,” Swinney said. “He really showed that he’s a guy that can play and that he’s definitely going to be a guy that’s going to help us.”

And the most encouraging aspect of Wesco’s weight-gaining mission?

He already weighs more than former Clemson walk-on Hunter Renfrow did when he arrived in Tigertown in 2014, and things worked out quite well for Renfrow, a free agent who’s about to embark on his sixth NFL season.

Scott Keepfer covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at  skeepfer@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ScottKeepfer

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: What Clemson football freshman WR Bryant Wesco must do to star in 2024