By Will Vandervort
The biggest storyline coming into Saturday’s Orange & White game in Death Valley was which quarterback was going to shine with starter Tajh Boyd sitting out the game – Cole Stoudt or Chad Kelly?
As it turned out, Stoudt put on a record-setting show, while Kelly spent most of the afternoon in the locker room in the Orange Team’s 34-26 victory in Death Valley.
Kelly, who was quarterbacking the Orang team, injured his right knee on the second drive of the game after scrambling for a 17-yard gain. The freshman, who redshirt the 2012 season, tried to make a cut when his knee went out from under him. He initially got up and tried to line up for the next play, but collapsed on the field in pain.
“It’s a tough deal,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “He has a purple jersey on and unfortunately, he can still get hurt. I wish I could explain why some things happen and I wish I could take it away, but that’s part of life.
“Tough times happen to all of us and adversity comes. Listen, it is obviously very disappointing for him and my heart breaks for him. He has worked so hard and has had a great spring.”
Donny McElveen came in relief and finished the drive, which Bradley Pinion capped with a 43-yard field for a 10-0 lead at the time.
Clemson officials said Kelly’s knee injury appears to be a torn ACL. More tests are planned for Sunday.
As for Stoudt, he put on a show for the White squad, throwing four touchdown passes in the second quarter, including ones of 41 and 50 yards to wide receiver Sammy Watkins. Stoudt, who has spent the last two years as Boyd’s backup, threw for a spring-game record 304 yards on 16 of 24 passing and one interception, all of which came in the first half.
“That was a fun day,” Stoudt said, “everything just kind of fell into place.”
Watkins also put on a show, proving he is back to 100 percent after suffering a severe ankle sprain on the second play of the Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
Playing in his new boundary position, no one could cover Watkins on the Orange team. The junior hauled in seven passes for 156 yards. His first touchdown was a 41-yard strike from Stoudt after he got behind the secondary. He later took another pass 50 yards for a touchdown after catching it on a 10-yard slant.
“I feel like I did okay,” Watkins said. “Cole and I connected a couple of times, but we still have a few timing things we have to work on… We still have a lot of things to work on.”
Trailing 24-14, Stoudt hit tight end Stanton Seckinger for a 75-yard scoring pass on a wheel-route down the right sideline. Seckinger showed great speed on the play as he outran the entire Orange secondary for the touchdown.
The White team took the lead 26-24 late in the second quarter as Stoudt threw a 51-yard strike to Adam Humphries.
The Orange team had its moments, too. Before he was hurt, Kelly directed the Orange on a 70-yard drive on its first possession. He completed six of seven passes for 43 yards on the drive and ran twice for 14 yards. Kelly capped the drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Charone Peake with 10:38 to play in the first quarter.
“He was so fired up to go play today and got off to a great start coming down for the touchdown,” Swinney said. “It is just a fluky thing. Listen, he is just going to be a freshman. He has his whole future in front of him. He is not losing a leg or anything. He is going to come back better than ever because that is in his DNA. That’s who he is.”
Following, Pinion’s 43-yard field goal, McElveen threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Martavis Bryant to make the score 17-0 Orange with 6:16 to play in the first quarter.
After Watkins’ two touchdowns pulled the White team within three points, 17-14, Nick Schuessler, who was supposed to quarterback the White team, came in for the Orange and scored on a 35-yard run after hiding the ball nicely on a zone-read option play.
Trailing 26-24 late in the game, the Orange team got a 50-yard touchdown pass from McElveen to freshman tight end Jordan Leggett on a fourth down-and-three play. Leggett, who caught seven passes for 97 yards, stiff armed on coming tackler to score the touchdown.
Besides Watkins and Leggett’s numbers, Bryant caught seven passes for 110 yards and Peake has seven for 94 yards. They all scored at least one touchdown as well.