Dabo Swinney has had his fair share of high-profile quarterbacks at Clemson.
Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence and Tajh Boyd are among the headliners. Kyle Parker, Chad Kelly (even if it didn’t work out at Clemson), Kelly Bryant and D.J. Uiagalelei are some other notable names that have been inside the Tigers’ quarterback room during Swinney’s 14-year tenure as the head coach.
But the collection of talent inside that room heading into the 2022 season, Swinney said, is a notch above the rest.
“We’ve never had a quarterback room like this,” Swinney said.
Start with Uiagalelei, who’s entering his second season as the starter looking for a bounceback year after struggling along with much of the rest of Clemson’s offense a season ago. Not only does the 6-foot-4, big-armed junior have all the ideal physical tools for the position, but Uiagalelei, a former blue-chip prospect, has transformed his body after dropping roughly 30 pounds this offseason.
Behind him is true freshman Cade Klubnik, Swinney’s latest five-star signee at the position who’s waiting in the wings if Uiagalelei’s inconsistencies continue. More of a true dual threat than Uiagalelei, Klubnik impressed this spring and is up to 195 pounds after arriving on campus earlier this year at 179, Swinney said.
“I’m excited about that room, but particularly those two guys, they’ve done everything they need to do to come in as the best version of them,” Swinney said.
Clemson also has a familiar face as the third option entering camp. A former five-star recruit himself, Hunter Johnson is back to finish out his eligibility with the Tigers after spending the last three seasons at Northwestern. It’s been a tough-luck career filled with injuries for Johnson, originally a member of Clemson’s 2017 signing class, but Swinney raved about having the kind of leadership and experience from a sixth-year player that’s rare for many teams to find further down the depth chart.
“I can’t tell you how many comments I’ve had from my players about Hunter Johnson, the type of leader he is and his skill,” Swinney said. “People forget this dude is a heck of a player. He’s had a lot of ups and downs, but he’s a sixth-year veteran who’s been through a lot. What he brings to that room, especially for D.J. and Cade, you don’t have that in many quarterbacks rooms with that level of talent and readiness available.”
As for the rest of the position room, Hunter Helms and Billy Wiles are former walk-ons that Swinney thinks highly enough of that both are now on scholarship. And true freshman Trent Pearman, a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in South Carolina who threw for more than 6,500 yards and 80 touchdowns at nearby Daniel High, passed on multiple scholarship offers to walk on at Clemson.
“We’ve just got a really good group of functional quarterbacks that we really haven’t had like that,” Swinney said.
