Brandon Streeter is not going to lie. It is not like he is excited to be losing Deshaun Watson to the NFL.

Of course he is happy for Watson personally, but professionally, he would have loved to have coached the two-time Heisman Finalist and National Champion quarterback one more year. Who wouldn’t?

However, that’s life as a college football coach when they coach a superstar athlete like Watson who lit up the ACC and Alabama the last two years in the national championship game. But Clemson and its quarterbacks coach knew this day was ultimately going to come, and they have been preparing for it.

“I’m very confident. I’m so excited,” he said. “Obviously, I’m not happy Deshaun is leaving by any stretch. But, I’m so excited for my quarterbacks’ room and the quarterbacks that I have to work with.”

Streeter is excited about his new quarterbacks because they, as he says, are men of character. There are no distractions with them. They are all willing to work hard. They are all coachable, smart and talented.

Of course he is talking about junior Kelly Bryant, redshirt freshman Zerrick Cooper, redshirt sophomore Tucker Israel and freshman Hunter Johnson, who enrolled in school last month.

“I’m just so excited to go into this situation to help mold them,” Streeter said. “I’m excited because there is an unknown there. The unknown is who is going to be the starter come the start of the 2017 season.”

Streeter says there is a lot of work to do with all four men before they ultimately decided on a quarterback, but he says he has a lot of confidence in the guys that he has for spring practice, which will begin on March 1.

Bryant will open up on Day 1 of practice working with the first-team offense.

“He has earned the right on Day 1 of spring practice to be that starter,” Streeter said. “That has been communicated to him and the whole group so everybody understands that, and he deserves that.

“He has done a great job improving every year and each and every week. I’m excited for him.”

Streeter also said he communicated with his quarterbacks last month that everybody is going to have an opportunity to be the guy. Everybody is going to have the reps and the opportunity to rise to the top.

“Tucker Israel is another one that has been here the same amount of time as Kelly Bryant, and he is going to have an opportunity this spring,” Streeter said. “Obviously, we have some young ones. I have Zerrick Cooper, who redshirted this year. He has a ton of talent. He did not get a whole lot of reps because of who we already had here, but he had a lot of opportunities to be in my meeting room and learn the offense and work in the virtual reality room.

“He did a great job of improving his knowledge and understanding football and understanding our offense.”

Streeter said Johnson will also have an opportunity.

“It is very important that each and every one of those guys to be themselves,” the quarterbacks coach said. “Just be yourself. Be who you are. Coach (Dabo) Swinney says that all the time, but it is so true. Don’t try to be Deshaun Watson. Don’t try to be Nick Schuessler, just be who you are and be the best you can.

“Compete with each other, but help each other out and things will work out.”

We are now taking orders for our limited edition magazine Mission Accomplished. Remember Clemson’s championship season with this great magazine from the staff that covers Clemson football 365 days a year. Order your’s today to make sure you get a copy!