Ajou Ajou was close to being a tight end.
The Clemson receiver contemplated making a position change near the end of last season when his weight went up to 240 pounds. For the Canadian sensation, that was no man's land.
"(Playing receiver) is all about timing and routes," Ajou said. "At 240, I felt like I was a little bit slower."
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney gave Ajou an ultimatum.
"You’re either going to have to be Terrell Owens or Shannon Sharpe," Swinney said when recalling their conversation at the end of 2020.
The sophomore chose the slimmer route. He went to Paul Harrington, Clemson's Director of Nutrition, and asked him to slim Ajou down. Ajou went from basically eating what he wanted to eating a lot of salads and drinking water only.
"End of the season. I wasn't really watching what I was eating," Ajou said. I was like whoa (when getting on the scale)."
The discipline and hard work paid off. Ajou entered fall camp at 224 pounds, inside his goal range of 220-225. He went from 10 percent body fat to eight during the offseason, so it's not like he was overly big at 240.
"That's the weight I'm going to stay at," Ajou said. "I feel like I'm confident. I move better (at 224)."
Ajou has been named numerous times this month when Swinney and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott have been asked about young, emerging stars. Ajou, who played his senior year of high school in Clearwater, Fla., played in 10 games as a freshman but only produced two catches for 41 yards in 2020.
Now that he's taking nutrition seriously and being more committed physically, Ajou's production is likely to go the opposite of his weight this season.
"I'm doing great right now," Ajou said. "Losing that weight and getting the timing right helps the team tremendously."
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