Clemson Football: Taisun Phommachanh to WR could make a lot of sense

Taisun Phommachanh as a Clemson football WR could make a lot of sense

If there is a question mark regarding the 2020 Clemson football offense heading into this season, it likely has to do with the depth along two positions: Wide Receiver and Offensive Line.

While there are plenty of bodies along the offensive line, the same can’t necessarily be said at the wide receiver position.

The Tigers enter the season with RB Travis Etienne as the leading returner in terms of receiving.

Both of last year’s leading receivers- Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross– are gone and that leaves some questions at the position, really for the first time in quite a while, as to what the position will look like, especially in the depth spots.

Clemson football returns Amari Rodgers and it’s expected that veteran Cornell Powell, as well as sophomores Frank Ladson Jr. and Joseph Ngata will step into major roles. After that group of four, though? Well, there’s not a lot of experience.

The Tigers still have two talented true-freshmen in 4-star EJ Williams and 3-star Ajou Ajou, as well as redshirt freshman Brannon Spector, who we should expect to see play some time in the slot.

But what if I told you Clemson football had an extremely athletic and versatile player who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds sitting on the roster in a backup role?

That man is Taisun Phommachanh.

Clemson football could cross-train Phommachanh at the WR position

There’s no doubt that Phommachanh joined the Clemson football program with the idea of playing quarterback and it would be a tough sell to ask him to move positions at this point when he hasn’t even gotten his major opportunity to compete for the starting spot- which will come during the 2021 season when he and true-freshman DJ Uiagalelei compete for the role.

That being said, the idea of cross-training positions isn’t the worst in the world.

If Phommachanh still saw his shared reps with the second-team- along with Uiagalelei this season- he could provide valuable depth and potentially even become an unexpected play-maker for Clemson at wide receiver.

After all, he has everything you’d look for in a wide receiver- great speed, athleticism and size- assuming he can catch.

Perhaps it won’t be attempted and it may be a hard sell, but it would be worth it at least in my opinion to give Phommachanh a shot at wide receiver this fall as a way to give him a back-up plan moving forward, legitimate playing time and it would serve as a way to provide depth for a position that will absolutely need it.