Who Will Be QB2

While Lawrence, the favorite by many in the media to take home the Tigers first ever Heisman Trophy, has secured and solidified the starting job, who will be his backup is up for grabs.

If there is one area where there is little controversy on the 2020 Clemson Tigers' roster it would be at the starting quarterback position.

Junior quarterback Trevor Lawrence enters 2020 with a 25-1 career record as a starter and the highest winning percentage among qualified quarterbacks in school history (.961). Lawrence has completed 527-of-804 passes for 6,945 yards and 66 touchdowns in his 30-game career, including his first four career contests, when he entered in reserve.

"Trevor, just I mean, just what you would expect of a guy, you know, that's going to graduate in December and a guy that's played in, you know, two national championship games and...he's pretty special where he is right now," head coach Dabo Swinney said. "And it was awesome to see his sense of urgency this spring, on the details of everything that he's trying to do just really just precision in what he's doing. I mean, it's just another level."

While Lawrence, the favorite by many in the media to take home the Tigers first ever Heisman Trophy, has secured and solidified the starting job, who will be his backup is up for grabs.

The composition of Clemson’s quarterback room has changed for 2020, as Lawrence will no longer be backed up by Chase Brice, who will graduate this May with the intent to transfer and finish his career at Duke. The position behind Lawrence could be contested by a pair of freshmen, including redshirt freshman Taisun Phommachanh (Bridgeport, Conn.), who appeared in three contests while redshirting in 2019, as well as true freshman D.J. Uiagalelei (Inland Empire, Calif.), who enrolled in January after signing as a consensus Top 10 recruit in the 2020 class.

"Wow. That's the biggest word I can say about this quarterback room. Very special group," Swinney said. "Unbelievable. character in the room. these are these are some awesome young men first of all."

Phommachanh completed 6-of-12 passes for 85 yards and having rushed for 56 yards on 12 carries in 43 snaps over three games played in 2019.

While Phommachanh entered last season "overwhelmed," through nine spring practices, Swinney saw a great deal of improvement.

"(Last year) he's throwing dirt balls, and I mean, he just could tell he was just kind of it was moving fast," Swinney said. "And he has worked his tail off, very smooth, very fluid, very knowledgeable. And, you know, you can tell the game slowed down and, and I thought he had an excellent nine days. He's never going to look like D.J. or Trevor, as far as just, you know, just watching him throw the ball, but because he's got a little bit of a different technique, but he's very accurate and he has got big time arm strength and talent. So being just looks different, but a very very good spring."

For Swinney, there is one quarterback who has done something he didn't think possible: make Trevor Lawrence look human.

"DJ is you know, he's just he's an unbelievable talent. I mean, it's just unbelievable to see a guy that big and that can I mean, he makes some times makes Trevor, type of arm Trevor has and sometimes it makes Trevor just kind of look normal," Swinney said. "With his with his ability to just rip that football. It's unbelievable. It really is. And then oh, by the ways, you know, 245 pounds and can move. 

"I was pleased with him is he really picked it up very quick. He was never really overwhelmed. And if he was, you didn't know it, I loved his demeanor. Just regardless of kind of who you put him in with, he just kind of found a way to kind of move the ball and, and he's got a lot to learn. He's got, you know, a lot to do this summer. But I thought he really took advantage of his opportunities and got better from day one to day nine, he got better and better. And that's what you want to see with a guy like him. So it's a it's a really, really talented group. We're incredibly fortunate to have those guys and it's gonna be a blast to get back on the field at some point."

The two Tigers battling for the role of QB2 missed a massive opportunity to showcase why they were the best option for Swinney. There was no spring game.

The shutdown of all spring sports, practices and school functions, including classes, due to COVID-19 pandemic, meant that the coaching staff lost the opportunity to see both quarterbacks dueling in a gamelike atmosphere.

"I wish we'd have been able to finish. That was that was something I was really, really excited about," Swinney said. "To be able to run them to young bucks out there in front of about 70,000 people, ESPN, all that Coach Swinney standing right behind them on the field, and Trevor Lawrence over there with a ball cap bone and let them to go at that was going to be my plan. And that would have been a blast."

All of that means that the battle for QB2 will likely head into September, October or whenever football restarts again. 

 "Oh yeah, we're, we're they're still battling there were ways away from that we got a long way till September. A lot of work to be done," Swinney said. "So if we played today certainly dice have run out there too but we got we got a long way to go and a lot of competition ahead."