Clemson spring game players to watch

Amare Adams is one to watch on the Clemson D-line.

Ryan Kantor · Contributor · Saturday, April 05 2025

Spring games may not be around much longer, but Clemson will host its annual Orange and White game on Saturday at 1 p.m.

A lot is changing this spring. Some schools like Ole Miss have turned their game into more of a skills competition. Others, like Nebraska, have canceled it altogether, citing how the game provides opportunities for other teams to tamper with their players and get them to transfer out. Colorado and Syracuse took a different approach and were ready to play a scrimmage against each other – something Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has endorsed – but the NCAA blocked it from happening.

Clemson’s spring game will have changes too. For the first time in ages, it won’t be televised, and instead of the usual split squad, there will be a single Orange Team offense going against a single White Team defense. While this will look a little less like a real game, it may give us more time to see the key players we’re hoping to learn more about. Of course, individual performances from this lone event don’t always tell the whole story – last year Klubnik struggled while Banks Pope and Trent Pearman were the stars – but there is usually something for a discerning eye to find. Here’s what I’ll be focused on during this year’s action.

Trio of Transfers: After several years of advocating for Clemson to leverage the portal for three to four impactful additions each year, they finally did it. By all accounts, they did it well. Last year, there was a glaring weakness at defensive end, and they addressed it by moving Peter Woods to the outside. Now, they’ve seemingly fixed the problem by getting defensive end transfer Will Heldt from Purdue. He was a great run stopper there and looks like the perfect solution to solve the Tigers’ biggest weakness. Simultaneously, this allows Woods to move back to defensive tackle, where he can be more impactful. While I don’t have a lot of questions here, I’m still excited to see Heldt in action.

Former Alabama Linebacker Jeremiah Alexander has a bit more mystery to him. Coming out of high school, he was the top player in Alabama and top 10 nationally (Rivals). He was then listed as a defensive end, moved to linebacker at Alabama, but played very little. Getting a gauge for his strengths and how Clemson intends to use him should be interesting.

Tristan Smith – the first impact transfer for the Swinney era – may have a more limited role playing behind three bonafide stars at wide receiver, but Riley says he has “flashed” so seeing it in person will be exciting. He could give the Tigers a great red zone threat with Jake Briningstool headed to the NFL.

Amare Adams: Clemson beat out SEC teams like Georgia and South Carolina to add five-star defensive lineman Amare Adams from South Florence to the team. With Peter Woods, DeMonte Capehart, and Stephiylan Green ahead of him on the depth chart, he won’t start immediately, but it is not far-fetched that he could find enough snaps to make an impact as a true freshman. Coach Swinney has already called him “freaky athletic” and said he has “some power of a Dexter (Lawrence).” Saturday will give us a look at this potential future star for the Tigers.

Christian Bentancur: Bentancur is a redshirt freshman tight end from Illinois. He was a prolific pass catcher in high school but given the complexity of tight end and his heavy usage split out wide in high school – not to mention good depth ahead of him – a redshirt year was no surprise. Now, starting TE Jake Briningstool has departed and while Olsen Patt-Henry and Josh Sapp should take most of the snaps this season, it could be in the cards for him to find a meaningful role. Moreover, he could be the next true star at the position for the Tigers in the coming years. Hopefully, we get a few glimpses of that bright future on Saturday.

Adam Randall: The Adam Randall hype machine seems to get revved up this time every year. Despite being a four-star WR recruit ranked fifth (per Rivals) in the state of South Carolina out of Myrtle Beach, he never excelled at Clemson. He was finally healthy as a junior last year but still had under 200 receiving yards. He started and struggled against Georgia and was quickly passed on the depth chart by two true freshmen. It became clear he simply struggled to get open, which is obviously one of the most important jobs for any wide receiver.

With his role largely diminished by December, he became an unlikely hero in the ACC Championship with a 41-yard kick return that set up Nolan Hauser’s 56-yard game-winning field goal. In the playoff against Texas, he moved to running back to fill the void caused by injuries to Phil Mafah and Jay Haynes. In his first action at the position, he broke off a 41-yard run (Clemson’s only run over 11 yards in the game). While many suspected he may transfer over the offseason, he instead moved to running back full-time. He was a plus blocker at wide receiver and clocks in at a rather large 6-foot-2 and 225 lbs. He is well-suited to handle the blocking responsibilities at running back. We’ve seen evidence he can be explosive when they get him the ball without running a route. Perhaps wide receiver was never his best position. Clemson chose to lean on Randall rather than go into the portal for a running back and this is an instance – despite so many past pleadings to use the portal for other roster holes – where I love this position change instead. It speaks to his humility and the program’s culture. Now let’s see if it works. Saturday will give us our first good indication of how it is going.

Christopher Vizzina: This is by far the top player I’ll have my eye on this Saturday. He has struggled in his two previous spring games, with a pair of interceptions in each. Vizzina was a top 100 recruit (per Rivals) wanted by other big-time programs like Georgia, Florida, and his home state Auburn Tigers. This was a big win on the recruiting trail for the Tigers back when he signed. He’s had two years to sit behind Klubnik and get ready. He’ll get one more this season, but he really needs to show he can be a capable backup this year and give some confidence that he will be ready to lead the team next year. He has gotten reps with the first team during camp and says it has allowed him to take big steps. I don’t think he needs to have a breakout game by any means, but another clunker would create some level of uncertainty about the future at quarterback.

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