Taisun Phommachanh – Page 6 – Syndication Server

Quarterback depth ‘not a concern’ for Streeter

Following the conclusion of the MLB draft last weekend, all eyes were on Clemson’s quarterback room and the looming decisions of incoming freshmen Will Taylor and Bubba Chandler. While Clemson will continue on with Will Taylor aboard and without …

Following the conclusion of the MLB draft last weekend, all eyes were on Clemson’s quarterback room and the looming decisions of incoming freshmen Will Taylor and Bubba Chandler.

While Clemson will continue on with Will Taylor aboard and without Bubba Chandler, who decided to pursue professional baseball, quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter isn’t worried. In fact, Streeter is more excited than anything to see what his five guys can do once fall camp rolls around.

“I think we’re gonna have five guys that I feel really good about,” Streeter said. “Obviously, there’s a lot to do and it is a little more thin than most years, but as you all recall, the year that we won the national championship in 2018, after that fourth game losing Kelly [Bryant], it was Trevor [Lawrence], Chase [Brice], Ben Batson, and then Hunter Renfrow. It was two guys that you felt good about, but we’re gonna be deeper this year and now it’s a matter of getting them ready to play.”

Despite what some would consider a lack of depth, starter D.J. Uiagalelei has more experience coming into his second season than Lawrence did in his national championship campaign, something Streeter thinks could be a real difference maker come kickoff this fall.

“Obviously, losing Bubba, we lost that number and a little bit more depth,” Streeter said. “Coming in in June is very very hard to learn offense and be very comfortable with it, but I’ve been very impressed with Will Taylor and also with Billy Wiles. I think both those kids are gonna be capable and are going to be able to help us. Obviously, you got D.J. who has more experience than Trevor did going into Trevor’s freshman year when we won the whole thing, so I’m really not concerned.”

With guys like Hunter Helms, Taisun Phommachanh, and the freshmen Taylor and Wiles sitting behind Uiagalelei, Streeter is confident in his quarterback room, despite some of their lack of experience, seeing a parallel between the way Brice became “that guy” in 2018 against Syracuse and the potential he sees within this year’s group.

“I think there’s a couple guys that don’t have much experience, but neither did Chase have much experience until that Syracuse game,” the quarterbacks coach said. “Chase did something special in that game and the team rallied around him and that sort of thing. We have guys on this team that are capable of doing something like that for sure.”

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Clemson’s goal is to keep Uiagalelei healthy

With Taisun Phommachanh still recovering from a torn Achilles, and 4-star prospect Bubba Chandler giving up football to pursue a professional career in baseball, Clemson’s quarterback situation is a little dicey heading into fall camp this year. The …

The good news is Clemson still has one of the top quarterbacks in the country in D.J. Uiagalelei, who many believe will be a Heisman Trophy candidate in his first season as a starting quarterback. However, with Phommachanh out, the Tigers do not have a ready-to-play backup quarterback.

Heading into camp, Uiagalelei will be backed up by a quarterback who was recruited to eventually be a wide receiver and two walk-ons. In other words, the Clemson coaches will have to do everything they can to keep Uiagalelei healthy until Phommachanh is ready to play.

D.J. Uiagalelei, So., 6-4, 250: As a true freshman, Uiagalelei played very well in the two games Trevor Lawrence missed due to COVID-19, leading the Tigers to the greatest come-from-behind victory at Death Valley in school history, as he rallied Clemson from an 18-point deficit to beat Boston College, 34-28 on Oct. 31. A week later, even in a loss to Notre Dame in South Bend, he played great, throwing for 439 yards, the most ever against an Irish defense. He nearly willed an outmanned Clemson team to victory in a double-overtime defeat. In his two starts, Uiagalelei played nearly flawless, completing 59-of-85 passes (69.4 percent) for 781 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for two scores, including a 30-yard touchdown run against Boston College. In the Spring Game, he completed 20-of-28 passes for 174 yards and one touchdown.

Hunter Helms, *Fr., 6-1, 210: A walk-on, Helms impressed with a two-touchdown performance at Georgia Tech as a true freshman. He enters 2021 having completed 9-of-12 passes for 77 yards and two scores after playing in three games last year.

Will Taylor, Fr., 5-10, 175: Though he was picked in the 19^th round of the MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers (554 overall) earlier this week, Taylor is locked in with Tigers and will likely enter fall camp as the third string quarterback, though Clemson eventually wants to transition him to wide receiver during his career. Taylor has the credentials as a quarterback, but he is not built to be a college quarterback, especially right now as a true freshman. However, he did lead Dutch Fork (Irmo, S.C.) to the Class 5A State Championship last year, while putting up good numbers. With Bubba Chandler leaving Clemson for professional baseball and Taisun Phommachanh still rehabbing from a torn Achilles in the Spring Game, the Tigers have no choice but to get Taylor ready for the start of the season.

Billy Wiles, Fr., 6-3, 215: Wiles is a preferred walk-on from Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia. He turned down offers from Maryland and Tulane to walk-on at Clemson. He was a 3-star prospect and had a rating of .814 according to the 247Sports Composite. He is a pro-style quarterback. The 2020 high school football season in the state of Virginia was postponed until the spring, but Wiles threw for 2,481 yards and 22 touchdowns as a junior in 2019, while leading his Stone Bridge team to a 12-2 record and appearance in the Class 5 state title game.

**Taisun Phommachanh, *So., 6-3, 220: Phommachanh is sill recovering from his torn Achilles from the Spring Game. The hope is he will be able to be back at some point this season, but there is currently no official timetable for his return. Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott did report earlier this summer that Phommachanh’s recovery is going better than expected. Before getting hurt, he completed 14-of-25 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown in the Spring Game, including 9-of-11 for 123 yards in the fourth quarter. He enters 2021 having completed 11-of-29 career passes for 73 yards and having rushed for 81 yards on 19 carries in seven career games. Last year, he completed 5-of-17 passes for 17 yards and rushed seven times for 25 yards in 43 snaps over four games. In 2019, he played in three games while redshirting, completing 6-of-12 passes for 56 yards and rushing for 56 yards on 12 carries.

Note: **indicates injured; *indicates redshirt

––Clemson Athletic Communications contributed to this story

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Clemson’s backup QB situation remains uneasy heading into camp

With Bubba Chandler off to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and Will Taylor locked in as a Tiger, Clemson finally has a good idea what its quarterback room will look like when the Tigers begin camp in a few weeks. Obviously, it starts …

Obviously, it starts with D.J. Uiagalelei, who is locked in as the starter to replace Trevor Lawrence. But who is Clemson’s backup is the number one question heading into fall camp?

Taisun Phommachanh was supposed to be the guy, and he likely will be before the 2021 season is complete, but right now he is out as he recovers from a torn Achilles he suffered in the final moments of the Spring Game on April 3.

As The Clemson Insider reported this past spring, the Tigers took a peak into the transfer portal for a possible backup, but it appears nothing ever came about it.

On May 27, Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott told the ACC Network’s Packer & Durham Show that Phommachanh’s rehab is going well and they’re encouraged about where he is during the process.

“I anticipate at some point we will be able to move him back in and get some work out of him,” Elliott said. “We got some freshmen coming in that are highly recruited. We have a couple of walk-ons coming in. So, obviously, with Taisun going down in the spring game, it creates a little bit of anxiety, but as we progress and see kind of how he is progressing with his recovery, we feel good where we are at.”

But that does not help the Tigers now. Clemson likely will not get Phommachanh back until October at the earliest. That means Taylor, who the Texas Rangers drafted in the 19^th round (554^th pick) in Thursday’s MLB Draft, will be thrown into the mix in fall camp, despite the fact he just arrived at Clemson in June.

“Will Taylor is a state champion quarterback and is a great athlete,” head coach Dabo Swinney said back in the spring.”

Hunter Helms will likely start off the year as the backup quarterback. The former walk-on played some last season and had a good spring.

The coaches really like the way Helms competes. They think he has a chance to be someone they can count on, but as Swinney said after the Spring Game, “He is still a developing guy.”

After Helms and Taylor, the Tigers have walk-on Billy Wiles, a freshman who turned down Division I offers to join the team this summer.

Clemson will have to have Helms, Taylor and Wiles ready to play before the season starts. In 2016, ’17, ’18 and 2020, the Tigers had to turn to their backup quarterback to either finish or start a game.

It has happened five times since 2016 and Clemson is 3-2 in those five games in which the backup quarterback was forced to enter or start.

In other words, Clemson better have its backup quarterbacks ready.

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Clemson’s backup QB situation remains uneasy heading into camp