Clemson Spring Game Film Review: 1st Quarter

So about that quarterback competition...

Yeah, I’ll have a helping or two of some fine tasty crow now. We need to be careful not to make knee-jerk reactions after our only glimpse of the quarterbacks in a spring with 15 unseen practices, but it’s impossible to discount what we saw from all four quarterbacks Saturday. Trevor Lawrence looked like the missing piece for what was a vertically challenged offense in 2017, Hunter Johnson and Chase Brice (despite his three interceptions) looked capable, and Kelly Bryant, well, looked like he regressed. Horribly.

Bryant is certainly at a disadvantage when quarterbacks are not live, but his inaccuracy from a clean pocket Saturday was glaring. It seemed worse, in fact, than at any point last year. His mechanics and delivery are still awkward and elongated, but I do not think he regressed as much as simply had a bad day. It remains likely he starts in September, but moving beyond that I am no longer firm in my belief he will start throughout 2018. Quite the opposite.

I am all aboard the Lawrence hype train. We knew about the arm strength, but the accuracy in every type of throw plus his outstanding pocket presence (sack figures are misleading) impressed me mightily. I still think Clemson will win 12 or 13 games (as in ACC champs and another playoff appearance) with Bryant at QB throughout the year; the roster is that good and the schedule that easy. But Clemson won’t win 14 or 15 games with Bryant at the helm. I said as much before the spring game, and figured Lawrence or Johnson would need to take over in the postseason when Clemson faces an elite defense, a la Tua Tagovailoa in last year’s CFP final, in order to win a semifinal match-up against the likes of Ohio State or Alabama.

So here’s my one knee-jerk: it seems apparent the Lawrence era will begin sooner rather than later. But once it does, I think Bryant can have a role in short yardage and red zone sets, like Tyrone Swoopes at Texas a few years ago. Two areas in which the Clemson offense was deceptively good a year ago were in short yardage and especially red zone touchdown rate, due in large part to Bryant running QB counter so well when tough yards were needed.

There’s a long way to go before this quarterback battle is settled. But the Lawrence hype is real and there’s now tangible, visible evidence that the ceiling for this team is astronomically higher than it was a year ago.

This is probably the longest quarter I’ve ever reviewed with all the 3 & outs and clock stoppages, so there are like 37 drive tables. Rather than throw in gifs between them, simply follow along here:

White turnover on the punt, Orange recovers but it’s technically a new drive.