How Clemson will handle QB depth after departure of former five-star
Few programs in college football can lose a former five-star quarterback and still feel good about their depth at the position. But Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is still more than pleased with the talent in his quarterback room, despite Hunter Johnson transferring to Northwestern.
With Johnson gone, Kelly Bryant, Trevor Lawrence and Chase Brice are left to battle for the starting job, and Swinney believes Clemson can’t go wrong no matter who is named the starter.
“We’ve still got good depth. Now we’ve got three that I think we can win with. We had four that I felt like we could win with. Now we’ve got three,” Swinney told reporters last week. “We’re in a good spot. There’s a lot of people out there that don’t have one good one. We’ve got three good ones. We’ll let them battle it out and see who’s going to lead the Tigers. I think it’ll work out great.”
Clemson is adding more depth at the position in freshman Ben Batson.
The son of Tigers strength and conditioning coach Joey Batson, Ben played quarterback at Dorman High last season, leading the Cavaliers to the 5A state championship game.
Batson signed with Clemson as a preferred walk-on and was set to play safety for the Tigers, but with Johnson’s departure, he will be moved back to quarterback and will receive a scholarship for this season.
“He was going to play safety, but obviously we don’t have the depth that we need,” Swinney said. “He’s the 5-A Offensive Player of the Year in this state, a good player. It’d be hard to go find a guy better than him at this point. We’re going to try to build a little depth with him.”
Batson started his high school career at Daniel, playing alongside Swinney’s sons Will and Drew. Batson transferred to Dorman for his senior year but will once again be playing alongside Swinney’s two sons, this time at Clemson.
Swinney has watched Batson play for several years and is impressed with athletic ability.
“He’s athletic, strong, good size, throws the ball well. He can really run,” Swinney said. “We’re lucky that we had a guy like that. We were fortunate to get him and that he just happened to be here because it’s a position of need. I don’t know if he’ll end up (at quarterback) for his career, but we’ve got to have him there this year for sure.”
Batson accounted for 2,993 total yards this past season, passing for 1,792 and rushing for 1,201. His brother Michael is a punter for the Tigers.
“We feel like we’ve got a Division I player in Ben,” Swinney said. “He had some offers, and with another season or so like this year, he’d have probably had some big offers because he’s got all of those measurables that people like.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2018 at 7:16 PM with the headline "How Clemson will handle QB depth after departure of former five-star."