By Will Vandervort

With spring practice now closed for the summer, it’s time to truly look towards the fall. Clemson, which is coming off an 11-2 season, returns 13 starters in 2013, including seven on offense. Of those seven is record setting quarterback Tajh Boyd, who will enter the fall as one of the top returning quarterbacks in the country and as a serious Heisman Trophy candidate.

“I think we have a great deal of potential,” Boyd said. “But it all depends on how we approach the summer and how hard we work. That will decide how we transform as a team. I think we have a chance to be special.”

Breaking down the quarterbacks

Tajh Boyd, 6-1, 225, Sr. – There is no question Boyd is the best quarterback in the ACC and is the reigning ACC Player of the Year. Boyd’s strength is his strong arm and his ability to lead. His weakness is trying to do too much at times, whether it is forcing a pass into coverage or trying to extend a play and not securing the football.

Boyd improved in his ball security last year, but he and offensive coordinator Chad Morris want to see him get even better in 2013. That was a major point of emphasis for the Tigers’ signal-caller in the spring.

“He has a long way to get to the level that we want him to be at,” Morris said.

Like last spring, Morris used practice to put Boyd in situations he had not been in to see how he might respond. Sometimes he succeeded and sometimes he did not, but regardless he has film on it so he can see what he did right and what he did wrong in those situations.

“It’s not all going to happen in spring ball,” Morris said. “It is going to take some hard, hard, hard work with Sammy (Watkins), Tajh and those receivers to be on the same page. We are not there right now. We see spurts and we see flashes, but these guys have a lot of work to do this summer. This summer is going to be very critical for this offensive football team.”

Cole Stoudt, 6-5, 205, Jr. – No one on the Clemson football team improved more than Stoudt. From the very beginning of the spring, head coach Dabo Swinney and Morris raved about the progress he made from the fall to the beginning of spring. His improvement continued the rest of the spring.

“Cole had a really good spring,” Morris said. “You have really seen Cole’s maturity level grow. This is his third year in the system now and I’m really proud of Cole and where he is. He is pushing. He had a much better spring this year than he did last year.”

Though it was only the spring game, Stoudt showed a lot of confidence as fans for the first time really got to see him sling the ball around the field. While running the White team’s offense, he threw for a spring game record 304 yards, which included four touchdown passes to Watkins (41, 50), Stanton Seckinger (75) and Adam Humphries (51).

“It was a good spring, but I still have a lot of work to do,” Stoudt said. “The biggest thing I have to focus on is my foot work. I need to get in more drills with other quarterbacks and get more chemistry with other receivers.

“I just want to make myself the best that I can be and make the team better, too.”

Chad Kelly, 6-2, 210, Fr. – It’s going to be a hard off-season for Kelly after tearing his ACL in the spring game. He suffered his injury on the 20th play of the scrimmage, when he made a 17-yard run.

The freshman finished the day 6 of 7 for 43 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown pass to Charone Peake. That scoring play came on the opening drive. Kelly was hurt on the next possession.

“I feel badly for Chad because he was doing very well picking up the offense,” Swinney said. “He was off to a great start in the spring game. This will make us thin at quarterback with just two on scholarship in 2013.”

Before the injury, Kelly was having a very productive spring. He was seriously pushing Stoudt for the No. 2 job, which in turn was making both Stoudt and Boyd better.

“Chad brought a lot to the team,” Boyd said. “He is really competitive. He just pushed everybody. I’ll continue to talk to him and try to be a mentor for him and give him any advice he needs. He meant a lot to this team so this is very disappointing.”

Boyd knows better than anyone what Kelly is going through. He suffered a torn ACL his senior year in high school and was forced to sit out his freshman season at Clemson while it healed.

“There will be some times when he is down because it is a tough deal, especially when you go from competing and competing for playing time and then it slows down in an instant,” Boyd said. “It is tough on you mentality. You have to stay strong and make sure you are communicating to people because it can be one of those deals where it can get you in a slump and almost in a depressive state.

“He just has to continue to work and know, if anything, he will come back stronger from it. The recovery will be grueling and will be long, but he will get better because of it.”

Donny McElveen, 6-2, 205, Sr. – Because of Kelly’s injury, the transfer of Morgan Roberts prior to the spring and Tony McNeal’s decision to give up football, McElveen’s role at Clemson has increased. More than likely he will head into the summer as the Tigers’ third string quarterback so he will have to get himself ready to play.

All in all, he took advantage of his extra playing time in the spring game. He finished the game 6 of 11 for 101 yards and two touchdowns. One touchdown came on a 34-yard pass to Martavis Bryant, while the other came on a 50-yard play to freshman tight end Jordan Leggett.

Nick Schuessler, 6-3, 185, Fr. – Like McElveen, Schuessler’s role on the team has increased. He will enter the summer in a battle with McElveen for the number three quarterback spot. Other than Kelly’s injury, the freshman was without a doubt the talk of the spring game. He completed 21 of 34 passes for 220 yards, while also scoring on a 35-yard run thanks to a beautiful play fake on a zone read option.

“I thought they played well,” Swinney said. “Nick Schuessler and Donny McElveen did not get a lot of reps in the spring, but they were prepared and showed it today.”