Clemson has a plan for its QBs in the opener against Furman

Clemson will play at least two quarterbacks in Saturday’s opener against Furman, and the Tigers will go into the game with a plan for how they will use them.

Senior Kelly Bryant will get the start against the Paladins, while freshman Trevor Lawrence will also see playing time. The Tigers coaching staff will decide before the game when Lawrence will be inserted rather than seeing how the game goes and making a move when they feel the time is right.

Quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter will be in charge of dividing up the series and snaps.

“We’ll have a plan for sure,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “I let Street handle that. I trust him that he’s the quarterback coach. I trust him to manage that, and if I see a need to change it, I will. But every position coach has a plan when you’re going to play multiple guys. So it’s really no different, it’s just unusual that that’s where we are at quarterback this year. But yeah, we’ll definitely have a plan.”

Clemson announced Monday morning that Bryant had earned the start after an impressive fall camp.

Swinney explained the decision Tuesday when speaking with the media for the first time since the announcement.

“I’m really, really proud of Kelly … He’s really been a breath of fresh air. He’s just been locked in on himself. He’s had an awesome camp,” Swinney said. “In three scrimmages I think he was 23 of 32, 300 something yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions. He just did a tremendous job. Played with both groups, didn’t always get first-team reps. So he just came out on top from a grade standpoint.”

Swinney talks up Furman

Most people expect Clemson to destroy Furman on Saturday, but Swinney warned that the Tigers should not overlook the FCS team.

“Sometimes people say, ‘Well, they’re playing Furman, it’s a game that Clemson should win or whatever. And I’m like, ‘Well you know what? Furman has beaten Clemson 10 times. 10. So it’s not like they beat them once and the skies parted. Double digit wins against Clemson,” Swinney said. “I don’t know when the last one was but I know they beat them 10 times, and I guarantee you those 10 times, Clemson was probably favored and was probably supposed to win the game. Supposed to don’t get it done. This is a game of performance, and you better show up every single week.”

Furman’s last win over Clemson came in 1936. The Tigers have won 30 consecutive meetings in the matchup.

“I’m sure that 1936 (Clemson) bunch was probably favored to win,” Swinney said.

Lots of option teams

Furman’s offense has some option principles, and the Tigers will also face option teams Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech in the first four weeks of the season.

Swinney said three of the first four teams running the option is both positive and negative.

“I mean, I guess the benefits are you get a lot of practice on cut blocks and it’s not a foreign thing to you. You get more practice time against that,” Swinney said. “The bad part of it is the other teams get to see you play, because most of the time when you play an option team they don’t really have a lot of tape to study you on. So it’s good and bad.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 6:40 PM.