Clemson Football Opinion: Tigers no longer have a two-QB system

Clemson football made an announcement that freshman Trevor Lawrence would be the starting quarterback for the Syracuse game. The offense is going to look very different.

Clemson football made an announcement earlier this week that freshman Trevor Lawrence would be starting at quarterback for the Syracuse game.

There has been speculation about what the offense will look like after the change, but that became completely clear to me after hearing Dabo Swinney’s press conference Tuesday morning.

There was almost a somber tone in the press conference when Swinney spoke of the quarterback competition. You could tell that it wasn’t a difficult decision, as far as football is concerned, but it was tough to carry out considering the loyalty and love that the entire coaching staff has for senior Kelly Bryant.

Swinney detailed an emotional conversation he had with Bryant on Monday when he told him that he wouldn’t be the starter this week and actually gave the senior the day off from practice.

All of that leads me to believe that this Clemson football offense will look very different going forward.

*Let me preface this by telling you that this is not what Dabo Swinney said. We are attempting to read in between the lines here, which is always dangerous, but you don’t just make a change like this for the sake of making a change. Whether you want to believe it or not.*

It’s Lawrence’s team…

Many people have speculated that the quarterback snaps are going to look similar, only with Trevor Lawrence getting the first two series and then Kelly Bryant getting the next couple of series. That may be what it looks like against Syracuse, but….

That’s just not what I think we’re going to see going forward.

Why would the coaches make a change and go through the emotional toll here this early in the season just to flip flop the two player’s roles? If they were going to do that, they would’ve just named them both co-starters and left it unknown which guy would trot out first.

This is a clear nod to Trevor Lawrence.

The coaching staff believes that the freshman is ready and capable to lead to this offense. It’s going to be his team going forward barring injury or bad play.

Kelly Bryant will still get worked into the game. He may still get a series here and a series there. He may have a few specialized packages worked in for him, but it’s not going to be the same thing. It’s going to be Trevor Lawrence and the offense is going to run through him. Bryant will still see playing time. But, there’s a difference between a two-quarterback system and two guys getting playing time.

This was a calculated decision by Dabo Swinney to move forward with Lawrence and to still give Bryant the chance to redshirt and play elsewhere if he so chose to. In my opinion, this is no longer a two-quarterback system. You will see Bryant play at times, but you have a clear No. 1 and a clear No. 2. That’s what this means going forward.

The coaching staff has handled this about as well as anyone could, but it’s clear going forward that this is Trevor Lawrence’s team.