Clemson football losing starting wide receiver to transfer portal

Clemson is losing a starting wide receiver to the transfer portal.

Junior receiver Beaux Collins intends to enter the transfer portal, he told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Thursday. Collins was an an every-game starter for Clemson at wide receiver this season and was third on the team in receptions (38) and second on the team with a career-high 510 receiving yards, only trailing Tyler Brown (519 yards).

Collins, a Los Angeles native, ends his three-year Clemson career with 11 receiving touchdowns. He’s the third Tiger to enter the portal this cycle, joining backup quarterback Hunter Helms and reserve offensive lineman Mitchell Mayes.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Collins thanked God, his family, his friends and teammates and “my coaches, amazing athletic training staff and all of Clemson University. I can’t thank you enough for all the love you’ve given me over my time here in Clemson. After deep thought and consideration, I have plans to enter the transfer portal.”

Collins can declare intent to enter the portal but cannot formally enter until next Monday, Dec. 4, the first day of a 30-day window for undergraduate players to enter the portal. That’s down from a 45-day window for players last year.

There’s a chance Collins’ departure doesn’t hurt Clemson too much next season, as the Tigers have two highly touted wide receiver recruits, five-star Bryant Wesco of Texas and four-star TJ Moore of Florida, in their incoming signing class. And, as Antonio Williams and Brown have shown over the past two seasons, true freshmen wide receivers can succeed in Clemson’s offense.

But Collins, who missed the South Carolina game with a foot injury, was a favorite crunch time target for quarterback Cade Klubnik this season and leaves with 32 games (27 starts) under his belt. That’s a level of experience not seen from other Clemson transfers, such as Helms, a career backup, and Mayes, a rotational guy.

It’s a sign that Clemson isn’t completely immune to portal departures from prominent players, as coach Dabo Swinney noted this summer at ACC Kickoff.

“We’ve not had a single starter leave Clemson,” Swinney said in July. “Not one. The kids that have left — even the majority of the guys that have left Clemson have been graduates. That’s number one. Number two, we’ve had only two kids leave Clemson post-spring in the last two years, and they were both graduates. One was a sixth corner, and the other was a sixth defensive end, and they just wanted to go play.”