The dust on Clemson’s spring football season has been settling for more than a week following the team’s annual Orange and White game on April 9.

Based on limited practice access and feedback from coaches and players, The Clemson Insider is taking inventory of the offense, defense and special teams heading into the summer. Here’s what we learned about the offense after the Tigers’ 15 spring practices:

The quarterback situation isn’t cut and dry

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney was adamant following the spring game that D.J. Uiagalelei is still the starting quarterback, though the way the spring ended was reminiscent of last season.

Swinney (and then-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott) consistently praised Uiagalelei’s practice performance last fall, and Swinney largely did the same following practices this spring, none of which are open to the media in their entirety. At one point this spring, Swinney even lauded one of Uiagalelei’s practices as one of the best of his career.

But, much like last year, translating that to the game was a struggle.

Uiagalelei completed just 17 of 36 passes in the spring game, again struggling with accuracy at times. He had some well-placed throws where his footwork appeared to be locked in, but there were other throws on short-to-intermediate routes that were simply wide or high of his intended target. He also threw an all-advised interception in the second half that was easily picked by freshman safety Sherrod Covil.

It’s not exactly fair to judge his entire spring on one performance, but in the closest thing to a real game that the Tigers got all spring, it didn’t inspire much confidence that all of Uiagalelei’s fundamental issues have been fixed after he completed just 55% of his passes last season.

Meanwhile, Cade Klubnik had a solid outing in his first spring game at Clemson, completing 15 of 23 passes with the game’s only touchdown pass. The blue-chip freshman also showed his mobility, scrambling for yardage or using his legs to buy some extra time before finding receivers downfield.

Swinney said he feels like Uiagalelei and Klubnik are capable of helping Clemson win games this fall, and it wasn’t too long ago that Clemson had a similar situation where a five-star signee was immediately nipping at the heels of the incumbent at the position. Trevor Lawrence, then a true freshman, supplanted Kelly Bryant as the Tigers’ starter five games into the 2018 season and never looked back.

It’s clear Uiagalelei will be given every chance to continue making the necessary improvements to hold on to his job. If that doesn’t happen, though, recent history repeating itself isn’t a far-fetched scenario.

Offensive line still in flux

If the quarterback situation was the No. 1 question mark for Clemson’s offense this spring, the offensive line was a close second. The group exits the spring still far from settled.

The Tigers are set on the edges with tackles Jordan McFadden and Walker Parks, but the line was thrown for a loop before the spring with Hunter Rayburn’s abrupt medical disqualification. Swinney also revealed Mason Trotter (undisclosed reasons) won’t be available for much of next season even though he practiced this spring, leaving a major void to fill at center with veteran Matt Bockhorst also gone.

Will Putnam moved over from guard to center this spring and, by all accounts, did a solid job with the transition. There was the occasional errant snap, but that seemed to become less of an issue the deeper the spring got. None of his snaps were off the mark in the spring game – at least none that Swinney could remember – but Swinney said the Tigers could still add an interior offensive lineman through the transfer portal, so whether or not Clemson’s starting center next season is even on the roster at this point remains to be seen.

And the guard spots are still somewhat fluid, particularly if Putnam remains at center. Marcus Tate made strides this spring and may be close to solidifying a starting job at left guard if he hasn’t already, but right guard remains an open competition. Converted tackle Mitchell Mayes, Bryn Tucker and Trent Howard are candidates at that position, and Swinney said even center Ryan Linthicum got some work at guard this spring.

Spector will be part of receiver rotation

It’s been more than a year since Brannon Spector has played in a game for Clemson, but that looks like it’s about to change.

Barring any setbacks between now and the Tigers’ Labor Day opener against Georgia Tech, Clemson’s junior wideout will return to the field this fall. He returned to the team this spring after respiratory complications stemming from a bout of COVID-19 forced him to miss the 2021 season.

Following an operation late last year, Spector was a full practice participant this spring, showing enough that first-year offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said there is “no doubt” the 6-foot-1, 195-pounder will be able to help the Tigers this fall.

“100% part of the rotation,” Streeter said.

Spector has reminded coaches of what he’s capable of with the kind of speed and quick-twitch ability that Clemson didn’t have at the position last season. Receivers coach Tyler Grisham likened that part of Spector’s game to another player that manned the slot recently for the Tigers, Hunter Renfrow.

Spector also dealt with a shoulder injury last year. If he stays healthy, Spector figures to significantly add to his 19 career catches this fall.

Speaking of health…

The group needs to get healthy

It’s hard to fairly assess the offense’s performance as a whole this spring given all the significant pieces that were missing.

The list of unavailable players recovering from injuries and illness this spring was long and only got longer before it was over. The Tigers were missing their top two running backs, Will Shipley (knee) and Kobe Pace (toe). Starting tight end Davis Allen (shoulder) also missed the spring as did another tight end, Sage Ennis (knee).

Spector found himself at the top of the depth chart at the slot because E.J. Williams (knee) was sidelined. Adam Randall joined Williams on the mend after sustaining a torn ACL late in the spring, which will likely force the freshman receiver to miss at least part of next season. Up front, Parks was among a handful of offensive lineman that weren’t able to finish the spring after coming down with an illness.

There was some good news on the injury front as rising sophomore receiver Troy Stellato, whom Swinney joked he hadn’t seen in a year because of various injuries, became a full practice participant before the spring was over. Other than Randall, Swinney said he expects all of Clemson’s injured players to be fully recovered before the start of fall camp, which would be a good place to start for an offense looking to maximize its potential.