A little springtime debate! (maybe beating a dead horse)

The coaches have said in the past few weeks that they want to get back to the up tempo, fast play from years past. Obviously a huge part of moving faster is the screen game which in hand opens up the field for deep shots. These are the two parts that really stuck out to me as weaknesses with Kelly Bryant due to arm strength and accuracy.

Last year the screen plays were developing way too slow and along with Bryant seemingly lobbing the ball, the routes were almost jumped or blow up almost every time. How much do y'all think arm strength and accuracy will play into the decision at quarterback? Obviously there is a long way to go but it seems every quarterback is showing out in spring practice so far.

So for example say you have two things happen:
1. Lawrence, Johnson, or Brice outshine Bryant in arm talent and can run the offense efficiently and keep up with the tempo
2.Bryant understands the offense better (audibles, check downs, blitzes) but the offense slows down and we rely too much on the quarterback run

With Dabo and Co. saying the best QB will play, if something like the scenario above plays out I am interested to see what y'all think the decision would be?

(This is not a Kelly Bryant hate post, the man led us to an acc championship and the final four for goodness sakes)

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Its a fun discussion, and dead horses are what spring is for

Mar 15, 2018, 12:52 AM

I am not as convinced as some are that Dabo is stuck on playing the incumbent. We all wanted to see Hunter Johnson last year, with good reason, so some people concluded Swinney just wouldn't go there. I think we have since seen that as talented as Johnson is he wasn't experienced enough to be as effective as Bryant. Dabo wasn't playing the incumbent card; Bryant was better. That doesn't mean Dabo wont play it, only that we have no reason yet to think so.

The scenario you propose might play out. I agree with one poster that reading defenses and tempo go hand in hand, and that is very difficult for a freshman to do (Watson could do it). But I think that will play itself out over the fall, not the spring. I don't think TL needs to overcome an incumbant card; I think he just needs to show he can handle the team better. But if Dabo plugs all the pros and cons into whatever algorithm they use and comes up with a toss up, I think he has to play Bryant.

An interesting thought experiment: The NCAA says that effective immediately a team can have only 40 scholarship players, but that any school can field more than one team. So overnight every school has two teams rather than one. Can you imagine how good that would make Clemson? Forget that the entire D line came back, and the depth we have at RB, WR and O line; yes, that is great, but can you imagine one team with Bryand and TL, and the other with Johnson and Bryce? We would put two teams in the playoffs, no question. That doesn't mean we will win the playoff this year, or that we even get there, but we can field two better teams that anyone, imo.

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Re: A little springtime debate! (maybe beating a dead horse)

Re: A little springtime debate! (maybe beating a dead horse)

All of those things will factor into it, but it won't be

Problem with the screen game last year

KB is solid but my take is Dabo would start experienced KB

Its a fun discussion, and dead horses are what spring is for

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