The Clemson football spring game didn’t tell us much about the quarterback situation

With the number of players who were unavailable due to injury or illness, we weren’t really able to see much of Clemson football’s future potential in this year’s spring game. Both DJ Uiagalelei and Cade Klubnik got plenty of playing time, but neither of them had more than three scholarship receivers or tight ends all day long. Clemson secondary was missing several players, but the front seven on each team was loaded with players on the two-deep. The pressure they put on the quarterbacks made it a challenge for them to be productive.

Many Clemson fans had been hoping for a performance from one of the quarterbacks that would give them a reason to be excited about Clemson’s offense. Some have been hoping that DJU would turn things around and look more like the quarterback who led the Tigers into South Bend in 2020 to take on the Fighting Irish, something the Tigers must do again in November 2022. Other fans were hoping they would see the kind of potential from Klubnik that they witnessed from Trevor Lawrence in the 2018 spring game, which was a sign of things to come for T-Law.

Neither of those things materialized on April 9th. DJU was noticeably slimmer and quicker, but because of the touch rules designed to protect the quarterbacks from injuries, he wasn’t able to show that his new fitness could benefit the run game. When it came to passing, what we saw Saturday was very reminiscent of what we saw through 2021: an errant pass here, the defensive line pressuring the quarterback there, a pass that should have been caught over here, etc. We also saw a few of those plays that remind us of why DJU was such a prized recruit. A great pass to Ngata in the endzone was called back due to a “Swinney Sack”, but in a live game would have counted for seven.

Klubnik was playing after only fifteen practices in a Tiger uniform, so things were similarly unpolished. A few passes into coverage he probably wants back, a few that were off-target, a few plays when he held onto the ball a little too long, etc. Klubnik is a very different player from Trevor Lawrence, so the jaw dropping plays weren’t likely to happen. We did see him settle in as the game went on, and he eventually did find a receiver in the endzone for a touchdown that put the White ahead for good.

It all amounted to the status quo: the receivers were decimated with injuries, the offensive line wasn’t at full strength and had a lot of holes and blown assignments, and the defense was really good. The status quo works two ways. On one hand, we didn’t see any reason to think the offense won’t be able to perform the way they did at the end of the 2021 season.

We expect Will Shipley and Kobe Pace to be ready to play at the beginning of the 2022 season. If they stay healthy, the three-headed attack of Shipley, Pace & Mafah can lead the offense like they did in the back half of last season. When the running game was functioning well, it took pressure off of DJU to make thirty passes a game. The opposing team was forced to guard against the run, opening up passing options. This principle would work if Klubnik was in the game instead of DJU. This offense worked well against opponents like Wake Forest, South Carolina and Iowa State.

On the other hand, we didn’t see an immediate reason to believe the offense will function better that what we saw at the end of 2021. We don’t have evidence to make a case that the passing game will be more successful. We will likely have a third-year quarterback who is inefficient, or a very young quarterback who is still learning his teammates, the playbook and how to be a P5 quarterback.

While the defense and a running-based offense will be enough to win most of the games on the schedule, a very good NC State defense and a tough road trip to Notre Dame will be difficult to overcome unless Clemson can get better play between the quarterback and his receivers.

The potential for improvement on the offensive side of the ball is still there and very realistic, so Clemson fans shouldn’t give up hope of improvements. We will have to wait until the kickoff against Georgia Tech at Mercedes Benz Stadium to see if that potential has been realized.