Kelly Bryant and Jalen Hurts have three combined starting QB seasons starting at Clemson and Alabama. Bryant has one at Clemson and Hurts two years at Alabama. Each year they have started they have led their team to the College Football Playoffs. Hurts was the SEC offensive Player of the year and guided Alabama to National Title Game in 2016. Kelly Bryant was the ACC Championship Game MVP in 2017, and went 12-1 when healthy. I’m not holding the 2017 Syracuse loss against Bryant. Jalen Hurts won 26 of his first 27 games. These are quarterbacks as successful in terms of wins and losses as you’ll find in college football.
In the 2018 National Title game Alabama was on the verge of getting run off the field by Georgia when Nick Saban made a QB switch at halftime to Tua Tagovailoa. The rest as they say is history. Alabama came back and won the national title. Tagovailoa became an instant legend and 4 months later Jalen Hurts’ father is talking about the possibility of Hurts transferring if he doesn’t win the starting job. Hurts is to put it kindly limited as a passer, and struggles when he gets pressured. He’s a good, but not a gifted runner. If you give him time though, he can make plays.
The national championship game though, makes his role as starter precarious at best. Clemson QB Kelly Bryant might be looking at his future.
Clemson is loaded quarterback. Kelly Bryant is the incumbent, but uber talented Trevor Lawrence freshman has arrived. Highly recruited Hunter Johnson and Chase Brice are also there. The spring game did nothing to help Bryant. Coming off a Sugar Bowl performance where Bryant was overwhelmed and tentative, he honestly played poorly in Clemson’s spring game. He was inaccurate in the passing game and the offense stalled while he was out there.
Lawrence shined throwing a 50 yard strike for a TD. Johnson and Brice led their units to scoring drives too. Clemson radio was filled with Tiger fans questioning whether Bryant should be the starter. The Clemson coaching staff like Alabama has said the QB position is up for grabs.
Bryant is a little bit better passer than Hurts, but he doesn’t throw a good deep ball. He’s mobile. Byrant has wheels, but his instincts of when to run are hit and miss. He’s not an elite runner. If Kelly Bryant sounds a lot like Jalen Hurts, it is because he is. He’s Clemson’s version of Alabama’s Jalen Hurts, at the moment.
Both fanbases by and large do not think either can lead their team to a national title. I think barring an injury to Tagovailoa or a complete transformation of Hurts, the future is set. Saban is going to go with the more talented player. Bryant still has time convince the Clemson staff he should start, but he’s going to have a very difficult time holding off the more natural passers Lawrence and Johnson.
Alabama stayed with the more experienced, but less talented QB until they were forced to make a switch. Saban didn’t hesitate making the move in the national title game. I think Bryant will enter the 2018 season as the starter, but expect the same quick pull from Dabo Swinney if Bryant struggles.
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