Tony Elliott is starting to see some confidence in Kelly Bryant when it comes to his communication and his knowledge in the offense.

Though Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator can’t really say there is a clear separation between Bryant and senior Nick Schuessler as the Tigers’ second-team quarterback, he likes the progress his sophomore has made in the first 11 practices of the spring, including in Wednesday’s scrimmage in Death Valley.

“I thought Kelly looked pretty comfortable in there today. We really challenged him to go play and turn it loose,” Elliott said afterwards. “He was making good decisions. He was decisive. He was pulling the ball down and running. He was extending plays with his legs. He made a few good throws.

“It looked like his decision making was pretty good today. I’m excited about turning on the tape and seeing how he progressed today.”

Dabo Swinney is also looking forward to watching the tape. The Tigers’ head coach said the biggest thing he saw from Kelly on Wednesday was the plays he made with his legs.

“He showed a better presence in just managing the pocket today. That is one of his gifts. He is dangerous,” Swinney said. “I thought that he instinctively made a couple of nice plays today.”

Swinney says Kelly got off to a really good start this spring, but then he regressed a little bit. But in the last couple of days he has picked things back up, again.

“So hopefully, he’ll finish strong,” Swinney said.

Elliott says the race to be Clemson’s No. 2 quarterback behind Heisman Trophy Finalist Deshaun Watson is day-to-day. However, Schuessler has fallen behind in the competition due to his class schedule, which has caused him to miss position meetings.

“In terms of his reps, Kelly is probably getting more reps,” Elliott said. “They both bring something different to the table. It’s tough when they are not live because obviously there are several things in our system that we require the quarterback to do. So with those guys not being live, it is tough to tell if there is that much separation.

“We need both guys to push each other. I know by the time we get ready to kickoff (at Auburn) we will have some separation and we will be able to determine that, but it is hard to tell.”

The main thing for Elliott is he likes the overall progress Bryant has made this spring in becoming a better college quarterback.

“The understanding with the progressions, with the read … (Brandon) Streeter challenges those guys to the up most to make sure they can command the entire system. For us to play fast, you have to have answers built in schematically to what you are doing, but you have to be able to diagnose what the defense is doing, make a split decision and get to the right progression.

“You are seeing the communication is better and you are seeing him get to the right progression based off of what the defense is doing.”