It’s been an interesting, and bumpy, ride for Brannon Spector on his journey to contributing regularly for Clemson football.
Spector was not highly recruited coming out of high school, in fact he had one major college offer if 247sports.com is to be believed – Clemson.
He was rated as the 60th best wide receiver nationally and the 522nd rated overall player, generally not the ballpark the Tigers recruit in.
That said, Spector is the type of recruit that Clemson looks to fill a certain role, in his case that was the slot and the coaches believed Spector had the short area quickness and other attributes to fit that role perfectly.
Spector missed all of the 2021 season as he dealt with COVID, reflux issues and a family illness.
He enters 2022 with 19 career receptions for 152 yards and 2 rushes for 21 yards in 14 career games.
Wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham sees a lot of a former number 13 in the play of the current number 13.
"“Yeah (he has some Renfrow characteristics). I mean, he’s got great speed,” Grisham said. “People kind of forgot because we went through mat drills before we had spring practice and everyone was like, “Man, that’s what they were talking about.” Because before he got hurt, he was flying around everywhere. And so he’s got springs in his legs. He can run, and change directions and get open in those short areas, which is what you want in the slot."
While the comparisons to Renfrow may be setting expectations too high, it’s clear the coaches believe Spector could be a solid contributor at the slot position in the 2022 season.
The slot position is a crucial one in the Clemson offense, the one tasked with catching those third down “layup” passes that helped create the “3rd and Renfrow” phrase that became popular during Hunter’s time on campus and, more importantly, keep the chains moving.
The first step was getting healthy and Spector appears to have done that. Now it appears he’s picked up the playbook and is honing his technique to be ready to contribute in the fall.
It’s been a long time coming and there were hurdles to overcome, but 2022 could be Brannon Spector’s breakout season.