Garrett Riley: There is 'always' competition at quarterback

The quarterback position seems very settled at Clemson with Cade Klubnik returning for his sophomore season after a great end to the 2022 season. But new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley emphasized that there is going to be competition in the room even if Klubnik is set as the starter.

“I think they’re always is,” Riley said. “No matter what you did last year and no matter what you did in spring football, you got to come out and you got to be able to do that in fall camp, where we have enough confidence in you to move forward and continue to give you reps. That’s just how it always goes. Everybody in here has seen starters that started the first game and then they get pulled at halftime or whatever. That’s the nature of the beast. I think they always know that there’s always competition in that room.”

There are five quarterbacks listed on the roster: Klubnik, transfer quarterback Paul Tyson, true freshman Christopher Vizzina, Hunter Helms and Trent Pearlman. Helms and Pearlman originally joined the team as walk-ons.

Klubnik started only one game last season — the Orange Bowl — but played significant minutes off the bench in multiple games in place of former quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. He became the first reserve player to win ACC Championship Game MVP.

Tyson previously played at Alabama and Arizona State as a backup quarterback but never started a game in his college career. He was brought to Clemson by head coach Dabo Swinney to be a veteran presence in a young quarterback room like he did last year with Hunter Johnson.

Vizzina was a highly-touted recruit in the 2023 recruiting cycle. He ranked as the No. 86 overall recruit and No. 8 quarterback in the class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

However, Swinney told the media this week the plan will be to redshirt Vizzina.

“That’s our plan,” Swinney said. “That’s what we hope to do. We’re super excited about where we are at that position. That’s why we don’t plan to sign a quarterback in this ’24 class. We hope CV can be our ’23 signee and our ’24 signee if you will.

“It really sets us up with a good situation with Cade being a junior and him being a redshirt freshman. Which tells you how we feel about CV. I think we got a great player right there