What a startling turnabout from this time a year ago as it relates to the aura around Clemson's offense in general, and its receiving corps in particular.

The shocking sight of Alabama flailing away in Santa Clara was still fresh, as was the promise of Clemson's passing game only becoming more terrifying with the freshmen who would be sophomores (Trevor Lawrence and Justyn Ross), and the sophomores who would be juniors (Tee Higgins, Travis Etienne).

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Not even the ACL tear suffered by Amari Rodgers in the spring of 2019 was enough to blunt the inevitable scorched-earth campaign that would commence last season.

As it turned out it's possible for performance to be less than the sum of parts (witness early-season offensive sputters, and Lawrence's high frequency of interceptions).