Clemson Receiver says he isn't Soft - Stellato played in Clemson's last 12 games in 2023 and played through pain in most of those

CLEMSON — It was about this time last year when Dabo Swinney did something he rarely does when answering questions about one of his players.

He doubted them.

With Troy Stellato nursing a hamstring he pulled in summer workouts just before fall camp started, Clemson’s head coach was asked about the wide receiver’s potential and if he could help the team in 2023.

Swinney said he did not know. He said they had to wait and see. He said they could not count on Stellato being there because he missed his first two seasons at Clemson due to a knee injury and several other nagging injuries. He also was held out of that spring and missed all of fall camp because of his pulled hamstring.

Everyone was frustrated, including Stellato.

“That was super hard for me,” he said.

After missing all of fall camp in 2023, Stellato finally returned to practice the week leading up to the Duke game. He was unable to play in the game because he was not ready. It was the only game he missed all season.

The next week he was on the field, as he finally made his long awaited Clemson debut, while catching five passes for 51 yards.

“If my leg is not snapped in half or I have a serious injury, I am getting back up and I am getting back out there and I am playing through it,” Stellato said.

And that is exactly what he did two weeks later against Florida State. Stellato took a hard hit from two Seminoles and it was obvious to all 81,000 at Memorial Stadium that the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native was not doing well.

Stellato walked off the field slowly and the trainers came over and looked at him. However, he pushed them away and said he was good to go. He was back on the field for the very next play.

“I played through a good amount (of pain) last year and everything, so if I am not on my hands and knees, I am going out there and giving it my all,” he said.

In all, Stellato played in 12 games, while finishing third on the team in receptions (38) and fourth in yards (321). However, despite playing through several injuries and playing all season, fans, radio hosts and television personalities kept saying he was too injury prone and he cannot be counted on to play.

“I don’t really understand that, I have seen that a little bit,” Stellato said. “Obviously, I was injury prone the first two years. I had the knee and the ACL and missed the whole year. My freshman year, I had all these little injuries, hamstring injuries, pulls and stuff like that, not huge injuries. But if you pop your hamstring, you are out for four weeks, so I had to manage that and everything.

“But I did not miss a game last year and I try to take pride in that because I believe other guys dealing with what I had to deal with may have missed a game or two. I played through it. People will say what they want to say.”

This past spring, Stellato finally participated in spring drills, as he practiced the first 11 practices before missing the last four so he could have shoulder surgery from an injury he suffered in the North Carolina game late last season.

Despite the injury to his shoulder, Stellato stayed in the game and caught a career-best six pass for 50 yards. He was back in time for summer workouts, the first time he was able to work out with his teammates in the spring and in the summer.

“Getting the whole spring and these eight days of practice so far have been huge,” he said. “Building chemistry with Cade [Klubnik], and I am playing all three positions now, so it is really getting a better understanding of the playbook. It is not just one position.

“Just knowing what to do on all the concepts, I can play even faster. It has been huge for me.”

And it should pay dividends for Clemson’s offense when it takes the field against No. 1 Georgia on Aug. 31 at the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic in Atlanta.