Clemson Football: Yes, the Tigers need a quarterback in the Class of 2024

With Friday’s miss on quarterback Walker White, it seems as if things have slowed down a bit for Clemson football after the momentum of their Elite Junior Day back on January 28th, one commitment during and another last Monday.

It means little today, other than the Tigers are off to a good start, but Clemson resides at No. 13 in the 247sports.com recruiting rankings for 2024.

This is the 2024 Class to date with their overall ranking in the 247 composite:

Christian Bentancur, TE, No. 102

Tavoy Feagin, S, No. 169

Noah Dixon, S, No. 195

Champ Thompson, DL, No. 241

Nolan Hauser, K, N/A

All four position players are in the top 250, which I consider blue chip and Hauser has won numerous awards and accolades.

It’s a good start, but while the Tigers are ahead of where they were last season at this time, there are still miles to go in this class, obviously.

I have to admit I was a bit surprised by some of the reactions to missing on White, with several comments to the effect of “we have our quarterback”, “he wouldn’t play here”, “we have two qbs, don’t need him” and the like.

While I agree Clemson needs to move on, I don’t agree that the Tigers don’t need a quarterback this cycle and obviously the coaches agree.

While Klubnik and Vizzina would appear to have the position locked up for years, this is the era of the transfer portal when any player at anytime can up and leave a program without repercussion.

And transferring is just one of the many reasons you need a quarterback every cycle.

If one didn’t pan out, got injured, or decided to transfer Clemson’s depth at the position is next to 0.

Before D.J. Uiagalelei, many Clemson fans, myself included, thought it was far fetched that a quarterback wouldn’t work out, despite the fact that we had recently experienced the Kelly Bryant year.

The reality is that for every Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, there’s been a Kelly Bryant and D.J. Uiagalelei in recent history at the position.

Of course Watson and Lawrence manned the position longer than Bryant and Uiagalelei, but the fact is it’s been 50/50 hit or miss, though the years have been more like 5.5 – 3.5.

Point being there is no sure thing, like we once thought with Watson and Lawrence.

Of course, the opposite could be true, too.  Clemson could sign a quarterback this class and HE could be the one to eventually transfer, instead of Klubnik or Vizzina.

For this exercise though, it doesn’t really matter which one or why someone doesn’t work out, just that he doesn’t.

If one is ineffective or leaves, you’re on thin ice and signing a graduate transfer every year is not going to solve that.

Clemson football is still looking for their quarterback in the Class of 2024

Remember, we’re talking about the Class of 2024, which is easy to forget since the 2023 calendar year just began.

If you don’t sign a quarterback this cycle, that means for all intents and purposes Klubnik and Vizzina are it through the 2024 season – at least.

That’s not tenable in today’s big time college football.

I’d argue that as it is right now, Clemson will be extremely thin at quarterback next season, with Klubnik’s limited experience and Vizzina just stepping foot on campus.

There’s a reason the coaches immediately turned their attention to the next couple of quarterbacks on their list and aren’t willing to stand pat at the position for 2024.