In the sport of college football, where every game matters, it is important to develop functional depth at every position. This functional depth is needed most at the quarterback position. In this day and age of the college football playoff, where one slip-up can ruin your season, it is paramount that you have a quality backup just in case “QB1” goes down.
In 2017, Clemson was on the road to play Syracuse and Kelly Bryant, the starting quarterback at the time, was knocked out with a concussion. Clemson played two quarterbacks, both of whom transferred out at the conclusion of the season; Hunter Johnson and Zerrick Cooper. Johnson could not get the offense going as it was his first meaningful snap in a college game. Cooper was better but still could not close the deal on the road.
Fast forward to the following season in 2018, Syracuse came to Clemson. During the week leading up to the game, freshman Trevor Lawrence was named the starter over Kelly Bryant. This move by the coaching staff made Bryant quickly put his name in the transfer portal. With the departure of Bryant, Clemson was down to two scholarship quarterbacks; Lawrence and Chase Brice. In the first half, Lawrence was knocked out with a concussion, just like Bryant was the year prior. In stepped in Brice, who led a miraculous comeback to save the Tiger’s postseason hopes.
Two years later, Lawrence, then a junior, tested positive for COVID-19 and was out for the Boston College game. Freshman phenom D.J Uiagalelei got his first start and led Clemson to a win after trailing by 15 points at halftime.
Clemson entered spring practice with very thin depth at the quarterback position. Everyone knew what Clemson had with Uiagalelei but Taisun Phommachanh had not yet taken that next step in his development and redshirt freshman Hunter Helms, who was a former walk-on, lacked game experience. In the spring game last weekend, both quarterbacks looked rattled early, but Phommachanh improved in the second half and was engineering a game-winning drive, until he tore his achilles.
This injury puts Clemson in a tough spot. If the last four seasons show you anything, it is that quarterbacks are not invincible, and one hit can knock them out for a game or even multiple. The luxury Clemson has had is that they have had capable backups in the waiting for the moment when the starter gets hurt. Now, with Phommachanh out for a while and Helms lacking game experience, who do the Tigers turn to for depth at quarterback? Will it be freshmen Bubba Chandler and Will Taylor who are drawing interests from the major leagues, or will the Tigers finally dip their toes in the transfer portal?
The problem with the transfer portal is that most quarterbacks are looking to go somewhere to start, not to be a backup. There are a few names out there who could be excellent targets, such as Joe Milton, who previously played at Michigan, and N’Kosi Perry who played at Miami. The question is do those guys want to sit behind Uiagalelei? The answer is probably no. One name to watch is Austin Kendall, who was the backup for Kyler Murray at Oklahoma, who then transferred to West Virginia before losing the job there. Kendall would be a quality backup and could be just looking to win this later in his college career.
