Clemson QB decision on hold, plus an update on an injured linebacker

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney isn’t ready to name a starting quarterback for Saturday’s ACC showdown with Syracuse.

Swinney brought up the quarterback competition unprompted before he could be asked about it during his Sunday teleconference after Trevor Lawrence threw for four touchdowns in Clemson’s 49-21 win at Georgia Tech this past Saturday.

“I’ll just say tonight, I know the first question everybody wants to know is has anything changed at quarterback and all that stuff. And I’m not going to address any of that tonight,” Swinney said. “Our players are off today. If anything changes you guys will certainly know about it. But I’m not going to get into any rotation or depth chart issues or any of that type of stuff.”

Kelly Bryant started Clemson’s first four games of the season at quarterback and performed well, but Lawrence is playing at an exceptionally high level and played the best game of his young career against the Yellow Jackets.

Lawrence led Clemson on five touchdown drives in his six possessions. He is now tied for second in the ACC in passing touchdowns with nine, despite splitting time with Bryant throughout the year.

“He really played well. It was certainly his best game. He was very poised and I think the game has slowed down for him,” Swinney said. “He’s making good decisions; he’s decisive with the ball... He made some beautiful throws.”

KENDALL JOSEPH INJURY UPDATE

Swinney is hopeful that senior linebacker Kendall Joseph will be able to play this weekend against Syracuse.

Joseph did not travel with the team to Georgia Tech after injuring his groin last week in practice.

“I hope so. I think he was pretty good today,” Swinney said Sunday. “We’ll meet in the morning and kind of get the update from (trainer) Danny Poole as to where everybody is. But we’re very hopeful and expect him to be able to go.”