Dabo Swinney spent the entire offseason explaining why he would not buy a quarterback in the transfer portal. On Tuesday he handed his starting job to a three-star freshman ranked No. 510 in the country.
Swinney confirmed that true freshman Tait Reynolds is Clemson’s starting quarterback going forward, not just while Christopher Vizzina heals. Reynolds makes his first career start Saturday in the ACC opener against North Carolina.
“We’ve gotta play some games,” Swinney said, per Chapel Fowler of The State. “But he’s passed CV, and he’s our starter.”
He added: “Just how they played, based on opportunity and mistakes and just body of work, Tait has earned the opportunity to start.”
What Swinney said in July
This is where it gets uncomfortable. At the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, Swinney went out of his way to praise Vizzina and defend his refusal to shop for a veteran.
“We made a decision that we weren’t going to get some shiny object at quarterback,” Swinney said. “CV has earned the opportunity to go be the starting quarterback at Clemson, based on everything that we’ve observed. CV was a guy that’s been incredibly loyal to our program. This guy could’ve left 10 times, and somebody would’ve paid him a ton of money, and he could’ve gone and done that.”
Eight months later, that loyalty gets him a seat on the bench behind a freshman out of Queen Creek, Arizona.
To Swinney’s credit, he did add a caveat in July: “Now does that anoint him to be the guy? No. He’s got to go do it. It gives him the pole position.”
Neither quarterback has been good
The full picture is not flattering to anyone.
Reynolds has thrown for roughly 190 yards on 20-of-33 passing this season with zero touchdowns. In the 22-7 win over Georgia Southern he went 16-of-27 for 178 yards and added 38 rushing yards, for 216 total, without reaching the end zone through the air.
Vizzina, a senior who spent three seasons backing up Cade Klubnik, was 4-of-7 for 19 yards with a touchdown and an interception before an elbow injury to his non-throwing arm knocked him out early Saturday. He is expected to miss one to two weeks. His PFF offensive grade sits at 32.2.
Clemson opened the season getting demolished 51-10 at LSU.
Bill Belichick is waiting
North Carolina comes to Death Valley at 2-0, having beaten TCU in Dublin and rolled East Tennessee State 35-3. The Tar Heels have allowed 13 points total and have a 15-drive scoreless streak going.
They also have not won at Clemson since 2001.
Belichick was measured about it Monday. “We’re heading into a real hostile environment down there at Clemson,” he said. “As usual, they have a really good football team, a lot of good players, well-coached.” On Clemson receivers Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore: “Those guys are really good, as good as anybody we’ll see all year. They’re big. They’re fast. They’re really physical. They’re hard to handle.”
Clemson needs this game. Starting a freshman ranked outside the top 500 recruits nationally against a 2-0 defense that has given up 13 points is a hell of a way to go get it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.