By Will Vandervort.

As we all know, Ohio State won the national championship last year despite using a guy who was officially listed as third on its depth chart when it started the season last August.

Before the season began, Heisman Trophy frontrunner Braxton Miller was lost for the season and then backup J.T. Barrett became a serious Heisman candidate before being lost to a broken leg in the regular season finale to Michigan.

In stepped in Cardale Jones and all he did was lead the Buckeyes to a blowout of Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship Game before beating Alabama in the National Semifinals and then rolling over Oregon in the National Championship Game.

Clemson was not as fortunate with its backup quarterback situation last year. When Deshaun Watson went down with a broken finger in his throwing hand that forced him to miss three games, Cole Stoudt did his best to help the Tigers, and he did as Clemson won all three games Watson missed.

But Stoudt played injured, nursing a torn AC joint in his left shoulder. Because Chad Kelly used bad judgment and was dismissed from the team last April, the Tigers had no one behind Stoudt that was ready to play on the big stage so the senior had to play hurt.

Clemson’s coaches thought they made it through a turbulent time with no damage done when Watson returned to start the Georgia Tech game. But late in the first quarter, the true freshmen went down with a knee injury to his left leg and Stoudt was not mentally prepared to play.

Tech routed the Tigers, holding the offense to 190 total yards, including 59 passing yards. Stoudt’s passes were picked off three times and two of those were returned for touchdowns.

Clemson does not want to make the same mistake twice. That’s why the coaches are making sure freshmen Tucker Israel and Kelly Bryant are both getting the reps they need this spring to assure they will be ready if called upon this coming fall.

“It depends on how you look at it. I’m going to take it as a good thing because they are getting experience,” co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. “At most you are going to carry five quarterbacks on your depth chart. That is another position, kind of like the running back, playing in a spread offense that involves a zone-read where the quarterback has to pull the ball and run it.

“You run the risk of a guy taking a shot and because of that you have to have the next guy ready to roll. It’s a good thing for those guys that they are getting in and getting that experience.”

With Watson forced to watch spring practice as his knee recovers from ACL surgery in December, junior Nick Schuessler is taking a good bit of the first-team reps, while Israel and Bryant share second and third team reps.

“We are reping several groups so we our getting opportunities to see those guys in different situations,” Elliott said. “(Coach Brandon) Streeter is doing a good job of not giving one guy an opportunity with one group, he is kind of mixing those two guys up to see them compete.”

And with each rep, Clemson is improving its quarterback situation for the future.