Tait Reynolds showed off his grit and guts on Saturday night against a top-ranked ACC foe, not to mention his talent, as well.

Clemson’s true freshman quarterback put together a remarkably gutsy and fearless performance against No. 4 Miami at Memorial Stadium. His competitive spirit was on full display despite the Tigers’ lopsided 41-13 loss to the Hurricanes.

“He’s growing up,” Swinney said of Reynolds. “He’s growing up. He’s going to be a really, really good player.”

Facing one of the country’s best teams and a relentless Hurricanes pass rush, Reynolds stood strong and held his own, making his share of plays under heavy pressure – even though he clearly wasn’t 100% for a lot of the contest, playing through a noticeable limp at times.

Despite being sacked six times in the contest and under duress on countless other occasions, he displayed poise and courage while taking a physical pounding. If not for his mobility and elusiveness in escaping pressure, that sack total certainly would have been much higher.

Reynolds completed 29 of 44 passes for a career-high 295 yards with an interception in what was his third career start. He mostly made good decisions and conjured up some big-time off-schedule plays to help keep the Clemson offense moving.

In the first half, he played clean, mistake-free football with no turnovers. But he lost a fumble late in the third quarter when he was under pressure yet again and scrambling around trying to make a play, and a Miami defender punched the ball loose. Late in the fourth quarter, with the game out of hand, he was trying to make something happen and threw a pick-six.

Despite those mistakes, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound signal-caller did all he could to keep the Tigers (3-2, 2-1 ACC), a major underdog, within striking distance against the heavily favored Miami squad for a lot of the game before the Hurricanes (5-0, 3-0) pulled away in the second half.

“He’ll have a few decisions he’d like to have back, but he also had some really good decisive plays,” Swinney said. “He made some big-time scramble plays. So, he didn’t back down. Again, he’s gotta be better taking care of the ball. He’s really not done a good job of that.

“The last play, he’s gotta step up in the pocket, and he’s running out of the pocket and then he throws late and it’s a pick-six there. There will be good things on tape, but there will be bad things, too. But he did a lot of good stuff, man. He’s just going to keep getting better.”

With Reynolds at the helm, Clemson’s offense was able to successfully move the ball — crossing midfield plenty of times – but promising drives repeatedly stalled out. The Tigers left a bunch of points on the table, failing to take advantage of scoring opportunities, and that was one big difference in the game.

At the end of the day, in spite of defeat, Reynolds really flashed his skillset, ability and toughness. There were those mistakes, too, as should be expected from a freshman. But you could see why Clemson’s staff is so high on him. He certainly has the arm talent and moxie, and he did what he did without much help at all from his O-line or running game whatsoever, with the Tigers rushing for only 55 yards.

Reynolds and the Tigers have an open date next weekend before returning to action on Saturday, Oct. 17, when they host Charleston Southern at Memorial Stadium.