Clemson Football: Dominoes beginning to fall in Tigers’ QB room

Clemson football fell victim to their own success on the recruiting trail this afternoon. Redshirt freshman quarterback, Zerrick Cooper announced he will be transferring from the program.

This past spring, I discussed Clemson’s dilemma at the quarterback position. In that article I praised the Tigers’ depth, while also warning of an inevitable log jam at the position.

A little over a month into the offseason and we are already seeing the effects of the Tigers’ success on the recruiting trail. Zerrick Cooper holds no ill will towards Clemson, rather he is looking for an opportunity to play elsewhere. He detailed his decision in the following tweet:

QB Depth Moving Forward

The Tigers are set to return, Kelly Bryant (Sr), Hunter Johnson (So), Chase Brice (RFr), Tucker Israel (RJr) and incoming freshman, Trevor Lawrence.

In a perfect world, Clemson will be able to keep each of these signal callers on roster for the entire duration of their career. Unfortunately, that is very unlikely to happen.

In the modern world of college football, players do not want to sit and wait three years to play. Transferring is commonplace, especially at the quarterback position.

Having multiple solid wide receivers is wonderful, because you can rotate all of them in the game and spread the ball around. At quarterback however, only one guy can play at a time and that player needs to stay in the game for continuity on offense.

More to come

I hate to say it, but, Cooper most likely won’t be the last quarterback Clemson loses to transfer over the next year. The only non-blue chip quarterback on the Tigers’ roster is Tucker Israel.

I’m sure each of the other four quarterbacks feel as though they are good enough to start anywhere in the country. If that means leaving Clemson, than that’s what they’ll have to do. It’s not a bad reflection on the players at all. There is nothing wrong with pursuing an opportunity to play elsewhere.

If Trevor Lawrence steps in from day one and takes over the starting job, what reason would an older Hunter Johnson – former 5-star recruit – have for staying?

Next: Early 2018 Schedule Analysis

At the end of the day Clemson is going to have an extremely talented starting quarterback next season, regardless who that may end up being. In the same breath, there are losers in everything and the losers of this impending quarterback battle may seriously consider transferring.