Clemson No Stranger to QB Depth Concerns
Clemson was thin at quarterback heading into the spring and are even thinner coming out of it.
Backup quarterback Taisun Phommachanh went down with an achilles injury late in the Tigers annual spring game on Saturday leaving just walk-on sophomore Hunter Helms as the lone backup to starter D.J. Uiagalelei.
With so little depth currently on the roster some might think now would be the time for Dabo Swinney to look to the transfer portal. Swinney said after the spring game that he has no immediate plans to go that route, but at the same time said the Tigers will do whatever is necessary to win.
"It is a week-to-week deal, you do the best you can," Swinney said. Whatever it is we have to do to win, that is what we try to do. We load up and try to win the next one. That is all we can do. We are who we are.”
However, the Tigers' head coach was also quick to remind everyone that help is on the way.
"We have got three quarterbacks coming this summer," Swinney said. "Bubba Chandler is a guy that we are super excited about. We have a lot of high hopes for him. We think he has a high level of potential. And Will Taylor, who is a state champion quarterback and athlete, he is coming in this summer. And we have a young man named Billy Wiles who turned down some Division I offers to come join us this summer as well."
This isn't the first time Clemson has faced depth concerns at the quarterback position. Swinney made sure to point out that the Tigers faced a similar issue back in 2018 when they won a national title.
"Just a couple of years ago when we won the National Championship in 2018, I think Hunter Renfrow was my third-team quarterback," Swinney said. "We have been there before. We have Hunter and D.J. and then two coming in this summer in Bubba and Will, and then we have Billy Wiles. Unfortunately, this is not our first rodeo and we are fortunate to have the guys we have.”
Swinney said that Phommachanh's injury will mean more competition come fall camp and he is hopeful that the coaching staff can get at least three of those inexperienced quarterbacks ready to play in time for the 2021 season.
"With Taisun down now, instead of six guys out there competing... we will have five,” Swinney said. “Hopefully, we can get at least three of those guys ready to go compete and ready to go win for us. You got what you got. It is no different than anybody else out there. You just try to put your guys in a position to be successful. You can't sit around and pout about what you don't have."
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