2017 National Signing Day: Clemson Signs Chase Brice to Letter of Intent

Loganville, Georgia quarterback prospect Chase Brice has officially signed his National Letter of Intent with Clemson and will enroll with Clemson over the Summer. With Kelly Bryant, Tucker Israel, and Zerrick Cooper returning from last year’s squad along with the early enrollment of 5* quarterback prospect Hunter Johnson in January, Brice will be expected to redshirt the 2017 season. Brice was a long time target of the coaching staff to be a quarterback take for the 2017 class. It was a bit of pleasant surprise to see Brice commit to the Tigers a day after the coaching staff managed to flip 5* Hunter Johnson from Tennessee. Clemson’s primary competition for Brice’s services was Michigan State.

At 6’3”, 205 pounds, Brice fits the right size mold for a quarterback and has a strong arm that will serve him well whenever he is called upon to lead the Tigers offense. Brice has ties to the program as his uncle, Mickey Conn, was hired by Dabo last year to serve as Senior Defensive Analyst. Dabo promoted Conn to be safeties coach and fill one of the two coaching staff holes created by Dan Brooks’ retirements and Marion Hobby’s departure to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Conn was a teammate of Dabo’s at Alabama in the 1990’s and started the Grayson High School football program in Georgia and coached a number of current and former Clemson players including Wayne Gallman, Nick Schuessler, and Ryan Carter.

With the abundance of talent at the quarterback position at Clemson and the expected arrival of the number 1 overall player for the 2018 class Trevor Lawrence, Brice will not have an easy time finding significant playing time down the road but Brice has made it clear he is not afraid of competition.

QT’s Take:

One of the two QB’s will redshirt and since Hunter Johnson is already on campus for the Spring and Summer, Brice will undoubtedly redshirt. That doesn’t mean that Chase isn’t a quality QB. In fact, Brice has improved tremendously during his senior year. In my book he moved from a low 4* prospect to a high 4* prospect this past year. He got into better shape after the Summer where he still had some baby fat. This led to a bit better mobility in the pocket and the open field at Grayson. He improved his arm strength and his mechanics became more consistent.

Brice is an amazing second QB pickup. You just don’t normally stockpile this much talent at the quarterback position. Chase still has a lot of work to do as he adjusts to the college level. He had a great supporting cast at Grayson, with an excellent offensive line. Grayson runs a lot of effective play-action so Brice had a lot of easy deep throws behind that offensive line. The route concepts aren’t all the intricate either at Grayson but Chase still showed good deep ball accuracy. He also improved his decision making. His junior year he could get caught making some bad throws with poor mechanics at times. Those throws off his back foot have been cleaned up a bunch in his Senior year.

He won’t have the time to acclimate to the level of competition come the Fall but look for Chase to provide solid back-up during his career at Clemson. Clemson’s QBs have stayed relatively healthy the past 5 years, we’ve been spoiled, but having a quality back-up can make or break your season. Does any school in the class of 2017 have a stronger second take than Clemson? Does anyone have a stronger QB class? I don’t think so.