LeAnthony Williams Jr. is the next Clemson football player to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal
The Clemson football program lost another scholarship player to the NCAA Transfer Portal when it was reported that CB LeAnthony Williams Jr. had decided to put his name in the portal.
Williams Jr., a former 4-star recruit back in the 2017 cycle, will be leaving as a graduate student. During his Clemson football career, Williams totaled 22 tackles and recorded 264 snaps in three seasons.
While there was certainly an excitement about the potential for what Williams could become, he never quite reached that or had the opportunity to get on the field enough to show it. With a stacked depth chart at cornerback, Williams was relegated to the two-deep and three-deep at the position and there was a chance in 2021 that he could be surpassed by several others, as well.
No one can fault a graduate student- who still has two years of eligibility remaining- for wanting to go elsewhere and have an opportunity to earn playing time. He’ll be able to earn a graduate degree while, hopefully, getting some time on the field.
At the cornerback position, Clemson is still loaded with talent. Derion Kendrick, Andrew Booth Jr., Sheridan Jones, Fred Davis, Malcolm Greene and Mario Goodrich are all returning while incoming 4-star Nathaniel Wiggins also shows promise in being able to contribute right away.
Williams Jr. likely won’t be the last Clemson football player to enter the Transfer Portal
We’re not going to speculate as to who might end up in the Transfer Portal before it’s all said and done because that’s not fair to the players on the current roster.
That being said, Clemson football fans should expect more situations like this to occur- especially after spring practice- and in the future as the program continues to grow.
You’re going to have players- like Williams, Nyles Pinckney and Jordan Williams- who want an opportunity to play. They’re not necessarily looking at their NFL stock. They’re wanting to a chance to get on the field and play the sport they love for the last couple of years that they have remaining and no one should fault them for that by any means.
Clemson is stockpiling talent all over the field and the result, especially in this new age of College Football, is going to be players entering the Transfer Portal. Even with the special culture in place and the amount of players who will choose to stick around, the Tigers aren’t going to be immune to having players choose to go elsewhere.
With Williams’ decision to transfer, Clemson has now had four players enter the NCAA Transfer Portal and we expect that number to grow slightly, especially after we get through spring practice and the summer depth charts are made known to players.