Bowden’s QB plan is a good one

By RON MORRIS - rmorris@thestate.com

CLEMSON --

THERE WERE NUMEROUS theories tossed around Saturday about Clemson's quarterback situation during the Tigers' uninspiring victory against Furman at Death Valley.

Let me throw one outthat seems to make the most sense: Tommy Bowden is bound and determined to avert a repeat of last season's fiasco at quarterback. Once Clemson gets into the teeth of its ACC schedule, Bowden will not be caught with a one-trick pony running his offense.

Every Clemson fan is aware that once opponents figured out Will Proctor could not make deep throws a season ago, they stacked the line of scrimmage and sent the Tigers tumbling to four losses in their final five games.

That is why Bowden mentioned this past week that the time is coming soon for backup Willy Korn to get meaningful minutes in place of starter Cullen Harper. A season ago, Harper never got those essential minutes and was ill prepared to become Clemson's starter late in the season.

For the third consecutive game, Bowden did not pull the trigger on Korn, who appeared in Clemson’s final two series, long after the outcome had been decided.

"I'm just going to keep getting him work and work and work," Bowden said of Korn. "Sometime we'll get him what we talked about last week, when the time is appropriate to do it."

Bowden obviously sees Korn every day in practice, and he must notice Korn is closing the gap between the two quarterbacks. What makes the situation a little dicey is Harper continues to play efficiently.

Harper completed 16 of 19 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns Saturday for a school-record efficiency rating of 253. A week ago, he threw a school-record five touchdown passes in a win over Louisiana-Monroe. Before that, he was the first Clemson quarterback to earn a victory over a ranked opponent (Florida State) in his first career start.

Still, Bowden is not ready to anoint Harper as the be-all, end-all as Clemson's quarterback.

"It's hard to sit there and say a guy is a great player when he's played in three games," Bowden said. "At the end of the year, can you lead the team to a championship? Can you do that vs. better personnel than what we've had?"

One thing we did learn about Harper on Saturday is he can make throws Proctor could not. In preparing for a Furman defense that stacked nine men on the line of scrimmage and allowed deep passes down the sideline, Bowden's staff watched videotape of Clemson's game a season ago against Virginia Tech.

Twice, Proctor could not connect with open Clemson receivers in that loss, one to C.J. Spiller and another to Tyler Grisham. On Saturday, Grisham found himself open down the right sideline, and Harper hit him in stride for a 49-yard touchdown pass.

"We missed those throws last year," Bowden said. "We had the exact same route, exact same throws and we missed them, and we hit them this year."

Just because Harper makes those throws against Furman does not mean he will make them against a stronger team such as Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech. That seems to be the point Bowden is making, and perhaps the one he missed last year with Proctor.

Bobby Lamb, Furman's coach, was impressed with the way Harper ran Clemson's offense, both on Saturday and in watching videotape of the Tigers' first two games. But he was guarded in his evaluation of Harper.

"He's very efficient in what he does," Lamb said. "They've got a lot of talent, obviously, over there. To be honest, I could probably play quarterback on that team with those running backs and receivers, jeepers, creepers."

Interestingly, that's what opposing coaches were saying about Proctor a season ago when Clemson was 4-1 and he had thrown seven touchdown passes against two interceptions. The remainder of the season, Proctor had five touchdowns and five interceptions.

Even the casual observer can see Harper is much more advanced than Proctor was at a similar point. No matter the competition, 50-of-69 passing with 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions for Harper this season is pretty darned impressive.

Still, it makes all the sense in the world for Bowden to plan for the unexpected. If Clemson is to challenge for an ACC championship, it cannot afford to make the mistake of a season ago. The Tigers need to have a backup quarterback who can step in at any time.

If Harper continues to perform at such a high level once Clemson gets into conference play, all the better for him and the Tigers. If not, Bowden must make certain Korn is prepared to take over at quarterback. He needs to get him playing time earlier in games, beginning Saturday at North Carolina State.

Call it a quarterback controversy if you want. I call it smart thinking on Bowden's part.

Listen to commentaries by Ron Morris weekdays at 8:05 a.m., 2:05 p.m. and 5:58 p.m. on sports radio 1400 The Team.