Hunter Helms to miss some time with sprained foot

Clemson backup quarterback Hunter Helms will miss some time with an injury, Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney announced following Saturday’s scrimmage.

Helms has a foot injury, and Swinney isn’t exactly sure when he will be back on the field.

“I don’t know how long he’ll be out. It’s all intact,” Swinney said. “It’s not anything that I think is long term or anything like that.”

With Helms out, Arizona State transfer Paul Tyson, who started his career at Alabama, will serve as the No. 2 QB behind starter Cade Klubnik. Helms and Tyson have been battling for the No. 2 QB job during the preseason.

Swinney feels good about having Klubnik, Tyson and Helms as the top three quarterbacks. The plan is for freshman quarterback Christopher Vizzina to redshirt in 2023.

“Paul Tyson will be the backup right now. CV is coming, but Paul’s a fifth-year guy. He’s got a lot of knowledge – three years at Alabama, a year at Arizona State. He’s been exposed to a lot. He would just knowledge-wise be the bridge guy right now,” Swinney said.

“But CV, definitely if we had some type of long-term deal, then yea. I mean if something happened to Cade or something like that then that changes everything when it comes to CV. We want to hold CV if we can. It would take something happening to Cade to change that.”

Helms is entering his junior season with the Tigers. He has only received limited playing time so far in his career but has impressed in the snaps he has gotten. The Columbia native started his career at Clemson as a walk on, before earning a scholarship and working his way up to the No. 2 QB.

Helms did not appear in a game in 2022 as DJ Uiagalelei, Klubnik and Hunter Johnson received all of the snaps. However, with Uiagalelei transferring to Oregon State and Johnson graduating, Helms is now battling for the No. 2 job.

For his career, Helms has completed 14 of 25 passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns. He has played 48 snaps over five career games.

“We feel good about Hunter. We feel good about Paul. I didn’t get to see [Paul] in the spring, and he’s a very knowledgeable guy. He and Hunter are similar. He’s got a good understanding. He knows when to get rid of the ball and has real good command of what we’re doing,” Swinney said.

“We’ll get Hunter back sooner than later. I hate Hunter’s not healthy, because I really wanted to see him and Paul kind of compete.”