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Ranking Dabo Swinney's first-year Clemson QB starters from Deshaun Watson to Cole Stoudt
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- Ranking Dabo Swinney's first-year Clemson QB starters from Deshaun Watson to Cole Stoudt
CLEMSON — Clemson football will have a first-year starting quarterback in 2026.
Dabo Swinney declined to take a transfer portal quarterback in January, expressing confidence in the players he had. Those include Christopher Vizzina , who has one start in three years, along with Chris Denson and former walk-on Trent Pearman, who never have started with the Tigers.
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Clemson also signed two freshmen: Brock Bradley, a three-star recruit from Spain Park High School in Birmingham, Alabama, and Tait Reynolds, another three-star player from Queen Creek High School in Arizona .
It has been a mixed bag of results for Clemson first-year starting quarterbacks under Swinney. Some have excelled, including Trevor Lawrence in 2018 and Deshaun Watson in 2015, and others have struggled like DJ Uiagalelei in 2022 and Cade Klubnik in 2023.
The Tigers hope whoever wins the starting position in 2026 will perform like Lawrence and Watson as Clemson is coming off its second-worst season under Swinney after going 7-6 in 2025.
As Clemson's full-time coach, Swinney has had eight starting quarterbacks. Here's how each performed in their first season as Clemson's starter from best to worst.
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Deshaun Watson
After injuries plagued his freshman season, a fully healthy Watson became Clemson's starter as a sophomore in 2015 and excelled. He threw for an ACC-leading 4,104 yards, 35 touchdowns with 13 interceptions, and he rushed for 1,105 yards and 12 scores.
Watson finished third in Heisman voting and was an All-American as Clemson went 14-1 to win the ACC and was the runner-up in the College Football Playoff to Alabama.
Trevor Lawrence
Lawrence became Clemson's starting quarterback as a freshman in 2018. He threw for 3,280 yards for an ACC-leading 30 touchdowns and four interceptions.
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He helped Clemson go 15-0 en route to an ACC championship victory and a CFP national championship win against Alabama.
MORE: Steve Spurrier's warning for Dabo Swinney on tampering allegations: 'There ain't no rules'
Tajh Boyd
Boyd became Clemson's full-time starter as a sophomore in 2011. He threw for an ACC-leading 3,828 yards, 33 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and rushed for 218 yards and five scores. He achieved this under first-year offensive coordinator Chad Morris, who Swinney re-hired at the same position in January .
Boyd led Clemson to a 10-4 record, an improvement from 6-7 in 2010. Clemson won the ACC for the first time since 1991 and made the Orange Bowl.
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Kelly Bryant
Bryant took over the starting quarterback duties from Watson in his third season in 2017. He had an ACC-best 65.8% completion percentage as he threw for 2,802 yards, 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also rushed for 665 yards and 11 scores.
He helped Clemson go 12-2, winning the ACC then suffering a blowout loss to Alabama in the CFP semifinals.
MORE: How Clemson football profit dropping $14M continued athletics' downward trend in 2025
Kyle Parker
Parker was a two-way athlete at Clemson playing both football and baseball. He became the Tigers' starting quarterback in 2009, Swinney's first full season.
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After redshirting in 2008, Parker became Clemson's starter in his second year, throwing for 2,526 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and rushing for 135 yards and a score. The passing touchdowns and passing yards set Clemson freshman records at the time.
This helped the Tigers to a 9-5 record, including an ACC championship game appearance and a postseason win at the Music City Bowl.
Cade Klubnik
Klubnik became a late-season starter in 2022 over Uiagalelei, who transferred to Oregon State the following year. This led to Klubnik becoming Clemson's full-time starter in 2023, but he faced adversity.
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He threw for 2,844 yards, 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions and rushed for four scores. This led to Clemson going 9-4, missing the ACC title game and not making the CFP for the third straight season.
The four losses were the Tigers' most since 2011, and Clemson had four ACC defeats, the most since 2010.
MORE: 9 Clemson football players get NFL combine invites, including Cade Klubnik
DJ Uiagalelei
Uiagalelei spent one season behind Lawrence before becoming Clemson's starter in 2021. Still, Uiagalelei struggled in his first season, throwing for 2,246 yards, nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions and rushing for four scores.
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His play contributed to Clemson missing the CFP for the first time since in 2015 and not making the ACC title game for the first time since 2014. The Tigers went 10-3 too, the most losses they suffered since 2014.
Cole Stoudt
After three seasons as a backup, Stoudt became Clemson's starter in his senior season in 2014, but it was short-lived. Stoudt was the starter for the team's first three games but lost his job to Watson.
Clemson started 1-2 as Stoudt threw for 486 yards passing, one touchdown and an interception. Watson replaced him during the team's third game against Florida State, and he remained Clemson's starter for three more games until suffering a finger injury, then injuring his knee in his return game against Georgia Tech .
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Clemson still went 10-3 despite Stoudt returning as the team's starter. He threw for 1,892 yards, nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2014.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at DCarter@usatodayco.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dabo Swinney's first-year Clemson starting quarterbacks ranked
