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Kelly Bryant opens spring as Clemson’s No. 1 quarterback

Kelly Bryant opens spring as Clemson’s starting QB. (AP)
Kelly Bryant opens spring as Clemson’s starting QB. (AP)

Dabo Swinney left little doubt about who is the frontrunner to replace Deshaun Watson, declaring Kelly Bryant as Clemson’s No. 1 quarterback as the Tigers opened spring practice Wednesday.

“Kelly is clearly No. 1,” Swinney said. “There’s no doubt about that. He would go play for us today, and I’d be excited to see him. But how’s he going to take that role? How’s he going to respond to that? He hasn’t been the guy. We’ll see how he does.

“Kind of like Tajh Boyd. That first spring, OK, it’s his chance to go be the guy — how’s he going to do? And he took it and ran with it. We’ll see how it all goes, but again there’s no lifetime contract. It’s a game of performance, and all we can do as coaches is evaluate what we see on the field. And everything counts, especially at that position. Everything counts. But it’s going to be fun to watch Kelly and the young talent that we have battle it out, see how it all shakes out.”

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Bryant’s competition in the quarterback room includes redshirt freshman Zerrick Cooper, redshirt sophomore Tucker Israel, five-star early enrollee Hunter Johnson and, eventually, incoming four-star freshman Chase Brice.

Bryant enters his junior year having completed 13 of 22 passes for 75 yards in limited action, adding 178 rushing yards. He will undoubtedly have ridiculously huge shoes to fill, as Watson was a two-time Heisman finalist who lifted the Tigers to a pair of national title game appearances, culminating in a championship win over Alabama this past January.

For more Clemson news, visit TigerIllustrated.com.

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Matt Fortuna is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!