Clemson Star WR Antonio Williams Reveals How Close He was to NFL Draft

It’s every football player’s dream to hear their name called at the NFL Draft, and Clemson Tigers wide receiver Antonio Williams had a chance to see it happen this offseason. 

The redshirt junior was mulling the decision to go to the NFL with hopes to be selected in the first or second round of the 2025 draft. However, with how projections were going, as well as the personnel returning to Clemson next season, Williams decided to come back for another year at the collegiate level. 

“I was very close,” Williams said on ACC Network. “It’s always been a dream of mine to go to the NFL, and I had the opportunity to do that last year, but I felt like I was settling. I didn’t really like my grade and what round I was projected. So I thought it was best to come back for another year, give it one more shot, and leave it all out there.”

Many other factors were influenced in Williams’s decision, including the 80% retention rate that the team had on last season’s team. It now creates a high amount of expectation for the Tigers to perform, which includes a run at not only the ACC Championship, but the College Football Playoff. 

However, Williams believes that Clemson is always at a high expectation, and the work is in front of them. 

“Obviously, our expectations are high, and they have never changed, so we know the type of players we got,” he said. “We know what we can do, but at the end of the day, nothing I say is going to win us a game, so we’ve got to go in, put our head down, put the work in and execute on game day.”

The retention also comes under the watch of head coach Dabo Swinney, who is outspoken about the excessive use of the transfer portal. For Williams, he sees an instilled trust from every member of the team, due to the fact that not many transfers come into the program. 

“Coach Swinney has built trust in all of us, like we trust him that he’s not going to try to get another player out of the portal to come to take our spot,” Williams said. “He always believes in the guys that he recruited, that came here and stuck with him. When you have a coach like that, that really believes in you and makes you want to play hard for him and stay.”

Now, Williams returns to a highly-rated wide receiver room that is coming off one of its best seasons in recent history. Joining forces once again with Bryant Wesco Jr., T.J. Moore, and Tyler Brown, who returns from a lingering injury, the Irmo, S.C. native believes that the room could compete as one of the best receiving corps in the country. 

“I think it’s up there with the best of the best, if not the best,” Williams said. “Talk is cheap, we have to go out there and prove it, but when you look at it on paper, it’s as talented as any room in the country.”