Some of the best quarterbacks in the history of Clemson football have played for Dabo Swinney.

Before Swinney took over the program in 2008, Steve Fuller was the best quarterback Clemson ever had. Of course, guys like Homer Jordan, Rodney Williams, DeChane Cameron, Nealon Greene, Brandon Streeter, Woodrow Dantzler and Charlie Whitehurst had very good careers as well.

However, it was not until highly coveted Tajh Boyd came to town in 2009—as a member of the “Dandy Dozen”—that Clemson’s quarterback play went to another level.

Boyd set several Clemson and ACC records in his three seasons, while leading the Tigers to an ACC Championship and bowl wins over programs like LSU and Ohio State. Not long after Boyd left, a young man by the name of Deshaun Watson put on Fuller’s No. 4 jersey and led Clemson to unparalleled success.

Soon after Watson, Trevor Lawrence did the same.

Though I have not revealed the order, it is easy to see who I think Clemson’s top 3 quarterbacks are under Swinney, but how about the rest of the field.

Below is who I think are the top 10 quarterbacks under Dabo Swinney.

10 Chase Brice

Chase Brice never started a game at Clemson, but he will forever live in Clemson lore thanks to what he did in the Tigers’ 27-23 win over No. 15 Syracuse in 2018. Kelly Bryant quit the team the Monday prior to the Syracuse game after learning Trevor Lawrence was going to be the Tigers’ new starter. However, late in the first quarter, with Clemson trailing the Orange, Lawrence went down with a neck injury and did not return. Clemson entered the fourth quarter trailing by 10 points, but Brice led the Tigers on two fourth-quarter drives, including the game-winning drive in the final minutes. On that winning drive, he completed a fourth-and-eight pass to Tee Higgins to keep the drive going and then on the next play he had a long run that set up Travis Etienne’s game winning score. Brice’s efforts allowed Clemson to stay undefeated. The Tigers never came close to losing again, the rest of the year, on their way to winning the 2018 National Championship with a 15-0 record – a first in major college football history.

9 Cullen Harper

Cullen Harper was Swinney’s first quarterback. He was the quarterback for Swinney’s first win as a head coach—27-21 on November 1, 2008 at Boston College—and he helped Clemson’s all-time winningest coach land the job permanently as the Tigers’ head coach, as they knocked off rival South Carolina 31-14 at Death Valley (November 29, 2008).

8 Cole Stoudt

Cole Stoudt is the definition of a Clemson man. He stayed at Clemson from 2011-’13 as Tajh Boyd’s backup when he could have gone elsewhere. Though fans were hard on him when he was not ready to take over for an injured Deshaun Watson at Georgia Tech in 2014, Stoudt never let it get to him. Despite all the criticism, which he also endured earlier in the season when the offense struggled, Stoudt stayed loyal to Clemson and helped guide the Tigers to a 10-3 season and nine wins in their last 10 games, including a 40-6 victory over Oklahoma in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Stoudt earned MVP honors in the bowl win, after throwing for 319 yards and three touchdowns.

7 Cade Klubnik

The book is still being written on Cade Klubnik’s career. He can still move up or move down on this list depending on how things go this coming season and/or next. However, Klubnik is on this list because he did earn MVP honors after coming off the bench to lead the Tigers to a 39-10 victory over North Carolina in the 2022 ACC Championship Game. He also played well down the stretch to end last season, including a last-minute drive to help Clemson beat Kentucky in the Gator Bowl.

6 DJ Uiagalelei

You may be surprised to see DJ Uiagalelei on this list, but he did do some good things during his time at Clemson. In his first career start, he quarterbacked the Tigers to their largest come-from-behind victory at Memorial Stadium. Clemson trailed Boston College, 28-10, before he led Tigers back for a 34-28 victory. He threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns. He still holds the record for the most passing yards by a Notre Dame opponent in the Irish’s history, which he did the next week in South Bend, Ind. He threw for 439 yards and two touchdowns in a double overtime loss. Both starts came after Trevor Lawrence was forced to miss time due to contracting the COVID-19 virus. Uiagalelei, who now plays at Florida State, finished his Clemson career with a 22-6 record as a starter, while helping the Tigers win the 2020 and 2022 ACC Championships.

5 Kyle Parker

There are a lot of “what ifs” surrounding Kyle Parker’s Clemson career. What if he had not got hurt at Auburn in 2010? What if he makes that throw in the end zone in overtime to Jaron Brown and the Tigers win at Auburn? What kind of season could that have been? Instead, Parker left Clemson as one of the school’s greatest two-sport players. In the 2009-’10 school year, he became the first and only player in NCAA history to throw 20 touchdowns and later hit 20 home runs in the same academic year. He also led Clemson to its first ACC Championship Game appearance in 2009 and to a bowl win over Kentucky. What a lot of Clemson fans do not know is that Parker played with two broken ribs for the entire 2010 season, which he suffered in the loss to Auburn. Parker was enshrined into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame last September.

4 Kelly Bryant

Some of you will not like that Kelly Bryant is on this list and some of you will not like that he is ranked so high. However, you have to understand, though his stats were not as gaudy as some of the others, Bryant was a winner. He was 16-2 as a starter at Clemson, including a 12-2 record in 2017. That was a year in which he led Clemson to an ACC Championship and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Bryant also earned MVP honors in the Tigers’ 35-3 win over Miami in the ACC Championship Game.

3 Tajh Boyd

Tajh Boyd finished his Clemson career as one of the most prolific passers in the history of the ACC. His 11,904 passing yards, as well as his 1,402 attempts, 901 completions, 107 touchdown passes and 133 total touchdowns, were all Clemson records, the latter two were also ACC records when he finished his Clemson career. Boyd was also a winner. He led the Tigers to a 32-8 record as a starting quarterback. The 2012 ACC Player of the Year was the first quarterback in ACC history to beat three top 25 teams in consecutive weeks. He also knocked off No. 3 Virginia Tech in the 2011 ACC Championship Game while earning MVP honors. And he beat No. 7 LSU in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl and No. 6 Ohio State in the 2014 Orange Bowl. Last week, it was announced Boyd will be a member of the 2024 Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame Class.

2 Trevor Lawrence

I know some of you will not agree with my selection here, but I have my reasons. Trevor Lawrence became the first true freshman in NCAA history to lead his team to a national championship, which he did in 2018. He helped Clemson go 15-0 that year. He also helped the Tigers return to the national championship game the following year and opened his career with 25 straight wins. Lawrence guided the Tigers back to the CFP the following season, while winning three consecutive ACC Championships. He won league MVP honors in 2020 and was the MVP of the ACC Championship Game. Lawrence finished his Clemson career with a 34-2 record as a starter. His 34 wins are a Clemson record as a starting quarterback. He was also 28-0 as a starter in regular season games. Lawrence threw for 10,098 yards in his Clemson career (third all-time). His 90 touchdowns were tied with Watson for the second most all-time. Lawrence holds the Clemson career record for yards per attempt (8.8) and for interception avoidance (1.5). In 2020, he set the single-season mark for passing yards per game (315.3) and completion percentage (69.2) Lawence became the first Clemson football player in history to be taken as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

1 Deshaun Watson

Clemson has never had a quarterback under pressure that performed better than Deshaun Watson. Six times in the Tigers’ 2016 run to the national championships, Watson led the Tigers to come-from-behind victories. The biggest of those, of course, came in the 2017 CFP National Championship Game against Alabama. With the game on the line, he engineered a game-winning drive with under two minutes to play, capped with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow. Twice he rallied the Tigers from two scores down to win the game, 35-31. Watson also led the Tigers to two ACC Championships and to the 2016 CFP National Championship Game. As a starter, he posted a 32-3 record and finished his Clemson career as the program’s second all-time passing leader (10,163 Yards) and was second in touchdowns thrown (90). His 116 total touchdowns also rank second all-time, while his 26 rushing touchdowns are tied with Boyd for the most in school history for a quarterback. He is second all-time amongst quarterbacks in rushing yards (1,931). His 1,105 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns in 2015 are both Clemson single-season records for a quarterback. Watson also set single-season records in passing yards (4,593), completions (388), attempts (579), touchdown passes (41) and total touchdowns (50). Watson was drafted No. 12 overall by the Houston Texans in the 2017 NFL Draft.

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