Clemson football: Highlights, stats, takeaways from Tigers spring game

The Clemson football program played its annual spring game on Saturday at Death Valley.

While there were good things that happened for Dabo Swinney’s Clemson football team during their annual spring game, there are concerns heading into the summer and fall camp.

2021 will be the first season D.J. Uiagalelei gets to be the Tigers’ starting quarterback. He filled in briefly as a true freshman last year when Trevor Lawrence was dealing with COVID. Clemson went 1-1 in those two starts. If Uiagalelei can play up to his lofty five-star status coming out of high school, then Clemson will be in great shape to win the ACC and make the College Football Playoff.

Here are some of the highlights from Clemson’s spring game, a few key stats and some overall takeaways from the glorified exhibition held at Death Valley on Saturday afternoon.

Uiagalelei was able to find freshman Beaux Collins for six on this well-executed drive, resulting in the first score of the day for Team Orange.

Uiagalelei connected on a beautiful deep ball to wide receiver Joseph Ngata, who is expected to be an integral part of the Clemson receiving corps this season.

Clemson football has little depth behind Uiagalalei with Taisun Phommachanh’s out with a severe injury

Overall, Uiagalelei played fairly well in limited action, completing 20-of-28 passes for 174 yards and that touchdown strike to Collins.

Backup quarterback Taisun Phommachanh threw a bad pick early but recovered with a decent stat line of completing 14-of-25 passes for 163 yards a touchdown and an interception. However, Phommachanh’s season is done after rupturing his Achilles.

This is really tough news for the Clemson program, as Phommachanh would be good enough to start under center for most Power 5 teams. He had been the Tigers’ third-stringer behind Lawerence and Uiagalelei, often forcing his head coach to play him once games got out of reach. Phommachanh’s season-ending injury is devastating news for the Clemson quarterback room.

Overall, Clemson fans have to like what they saw out of Uiagalelei. He should be the best quarterback in the ACC this season. While he has a long way to go towards making up for Lawrence turning pro, he has the talent to do so. However, news of Phommachanh’s untimely injury could signify the Tigers looking for quarterbacks who do not win jobs who enter the portal.

For as great as Uiagalelei looked, Phommachanh’s injury leaves a bitter taste in our mouths.

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