Clemson Football’s spring practice has concluded. The transfer portal and recruiting will be the most important news items during the next few months. Recruiting will heat up in roughly a month when official visits for 2025 prospects begin and the team begins making offers to the 2026 class.
Though the roster can be impacted by transfers, we can begin to discuss the depth chart. Clemson doesn’t release full depth charts that often these days and the transfer portal might be a big reason for that. It doesn’t make sense to release a chart with names that might not be on the roster in two weeks, nor does it help anyone within the program to announce that someone might not be projected as a starter or a key backup. That would just entice other programs to recruit players on Clemson’s roster harder.
We’ll start discussing the depth chart today with the position that stirs the drink: quarterback
Projected starter: Cade Klubnik
Projected backup: Trent Pearman
Reserves: Chris Vizzina, Paul Tyson
Let’s start with Klubnik. He didn’t play well in the spring game. He did have moments where he looked good. He led a touchdown drive. He has always had good moments.
He also threw an interception and twice put the ball in harm’s way. He has always had these moments too. The problem has been consistency, and the only way to solve that is to go long periods without making a mistake.
Though we can point at examples where quarterbacks bloomed late in their careers (Joe Burrow and Kenny Pickett are the best recent examples), usually we know by a player’s junior season what their ceiling is. Should we consider this spring the final chapter of Klubnik’s sophomore campaign, or the start of that critical junior season?
I lean towards the former. The time between the end of the regular season and spring is used for recovery. The time between now and fall camp is used for preparation. This is one of the big reasons I believe Klubnik can still improve his consistency going into next season.
Additionally, it’s not in this staff’s reputation to make significant changes at quarterback in the offseason. Spring ball and fall camp are when an up-and-coming player gets into the conversation and earns some playing time. Deshaun Watson earned playing time in 2014, but he didn’t beat out Cole Stoudt until he proved himself on the field of play. Same for Trevor Lawrence: he earned the right to play and used that time to outplay Kelly Bryant.
That’s why I’m convinced Klubnik will start. That brings us to the next question: will Trent Pearman gain playing time in fall camp? The answer is yes. When that playing time will come is uncertain.
The Tigers open the season against Georgia, which makes it difficult to introduce a walk-on backup. It is not impossible. If Klubnik struggles against the Bulldogs and Pearman has convinced the staff that he can handle the pressure of playing in primetime, he may be given an opportunity to shine. However, I believe those odds are minimal.
This brings us to Vizzina, who did not have the best armory of weaponry around him during the spring game. In retrospect, I wish one of two things had been handled differently. Either the Tigers should have divided the starters/best players available more evenly between the two squads, or they should have rotated all three quarterbacks in the same way they did Pearman. That way, we could have witnessed Vizzina with a better set of receivers.Clemson tigers
