Clemson’s season has been hanging on a January decision ever since Dabo Swinney took a look at his quarterback room and decided it was enough.
On January 3, Swinney reportedly told his staff, “Stop asking me about going to the portal for a quarterback. We have what we need there.”
That stance has become a lightning rod after Clemson lost its best quarterbacks since Trevor Lawrence and Cade Klubnik headed to the NFL. Christopher Vizzina sits at the top of the depth chart, with Chris Denson, Trent Pearman, and true freshman Tait Reynolds behind him.
Vizzina flashed early against SMU last year, but that’s the extent of the résumé. Denson has been converted to receiver, and Reynolds has started every game since Week 3.
The frustrating part for Clemson fans is that Swinney has shown he can use the portal when he wants to. On defense, he was willing to let Tom Allen bring in help. On offense, he drew a hard line at quarterback, and that choice has loomed over everything else.
The receivers are not the problem. The group is good.
The issue is that wideouts need someone to get them the ball, and Clemson’s offensive line still has question marks. The run game has improved, but the whole offense still keeps circling back to the same bad decision.
Larry Williams of Tiger Illustrated reported on the message Swinney gave his staff and the broader fallout from his roster approach. The reaction from around the program has only gotten sharper as the losses pile up.
So far, the common thread in Clemson’s defeats is impossible to miss. All three teams that have beaten the Tigers this season are bowl-eligible Power Four teams led by transfer-portal quarterbacks.
Sam Leavitt is on his third team at LSU. Darian Mensah is at Miami.
Ethan Grunkemeyer followed his head coach, James Franklin, to Virginia Tech.
If one of those quarterbacks were running Clemson’s offense, the argument goes, this would be a playoff team. The Tigers have the defense to match up with anyone, and few teams in the Power Four are as solid on special teams. But that advantage has been buried by an offense that has too often looked stuck in place.
That’s where the irritation has turned into open exasperation. The quarterback situation, combined with Swinney’s loyalty to Chad Morris, has become a symbol of a program refusing to adjust. Clemson has talented receivers in Tyler Brown, TJ Moore, and Bryant Wesco Jr., but they need competent quarterback play to matter.
At this point, even the critics sound worn out. The sense around the program is that the same offensive debate keeps resurfacing, and Clemson still isn’t close to settling it. As one piece of the conversation put it, maybe Paul Finebaum was right about Swinney.
Clemson may have technically started its season over Labor Day Weekend, but the damage, in this telling, was done on January 3.
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