Clemson freshman Chris Denson certainly looked the part of a big-time college quarterback in the Tigers’ blowout win over Furman.
In the first extensive action of his career, Denson was basically a one-man show in the running game after entering the game early in the fourth quarter.
Five of Denson’s six carries went for 10 yards or more, including a 50-yard scamper on his second rushing attempt of the game. The southpaw signal caller would end up leading Clemson with 106 yards on the ground, while also accounting for the Tigers’ final two touchdowns of the contest.
Dabo Swinney said during his weekly teleconference on Sunday that they’ve seen a lot of that from Denson in practice of late.
“He’s just an electric guy with the ball in his hands,” the head coach said. “He’s a natural runner. He’s very gifted. He’s elusive and explosive and has great vision with the ball in his hands. Obviously, a situation where we were able to call a few run plays with him and a few quarterback draws, and he found some lanes and did the rest. Didn’t ask him to do much outside of that.”
With Clemson up big, Denson wasn’t tasked with doing much in the passing game, but he did complete all four of his pass attempts for 22 yards, which included a 4-yard touchdown to fellow true freshman Logan Brooking.
While it’s pretty apparent how dangerous Denson can be with his legs, Swinney maintains that there is still some growth that needs to take place before he becomes a complete quarterback. With the quarterback job expected to be open next season, that means the spring will be big for Denson.
“He’s just got to develop. I mean, he’s just in that process,” Swinney added. “He’s got to develop as a quarterback in totality. So, big spring ahead, and that’s why we recruited him. What y’all saw (Saturday) live is why we recruited him.”
Playing his high school ball in Florida, Denson was a three-star talent. With the Tigers losing Blake Hebert late in the 2025 recruiting cycle after he flipped to Notre Dame, offensive coordinator Garrett Riley went looking for a new target.
Riley went and watched Denson play, and the left-handed signal caller threw for more than 500 yards that night. Clemson would end up offering and Denson would flip from Coastal Carolina to the Tigers. Minnesota and Pitt were his only other Power-4 offers.
Knowing that Denson was still fairly raw when it came to the passing game, the plan was always to redshirt him. While he’s taken full advantage of every rep he’s gotten in practice, the coming offseason will be a big one. Although Swinney has always seen the potential.
“Just the totality of the passing game, that is the main thing,” Swinney said when asked where the quarterback still needs to develop. “He’s just still a maturing passer. That’s really the biggest thing. He’s made huge strides since when we first got him here. Just the totality of playing quarterback. Obviously, he’s gifted and can do all the things as a runner, but he’s gotta be an elite passer, too. That’s part of why we signed him, because we felt like he could be.”
As a senior in high school, Denson threw for 2,334 yards while completing 65% of his passes. He had 28 touchdown throws to just three interceptions, which shows he has a knack for making good decisions with the football.
However, doing it at the high school level is one thing. Doing at the Power-4 level is something else entirely. But Denson is much closer now than he was when he arrived on campus in January, and Swinney fully believes he is only going to get better.
“We also knew that he was very raw, and it was gonna take a lot of development,” Swinney said. “And then what you don’t know when you’re just recruiting a guy is, who are they mentally? How are they gonna take the things from a mental standpoint? And the good news is he’s just a natural. He really understands the game. He’s smart, he’s savvy. He’s got good instincts. But he just is coming from a background where he ran around a lot. And wasn’t really asked to do a whole lot, and didn’t have a lot of time to do a whole lot from a protection standpoint. So we’re excited about his potential.”
Photo by Bart Boatwright