CLEMSON — What have we learned about the Clemson Football team thus far?

I think the debate is still out there.

Is this a Clemson team that any of us think can compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff?

I do not think so.

Is this a team that can win an ACC Championship?

I do not think so.

Is this a team that can compete for a spot in the ACC Championship Game?

Possibly.

Is this a team that could go 7-6 or worse this year?

Maybe.

In other words. I do not really know.

What I do know is this, I like the confidence of this year’s team.

The players seem confident. Did you hear Christopher Vizzina’s comments earlier this spring?

Vizzina was asked if he had a chip on his shoulder considering those outside the program do not think he is the right guy for the job.

“I sat behind a pretty good quarterback for the last couple of years,” Vizzina said. “A great leader and someone I look up to. I love Clemson. I do not want people to think, ‘He stayed behind him because he didn’t think he was ready.’

“I just love Clemson. I am a Clemson man. This is where I want to be. If I did not want to be here, I would not be here. I would not buy into the process and commit to what Coach (Dabo) Swinney prepared for me when I first got here. I knew this was a possibility.”

Vizzina has used that motivation to come out of the spring as the leader in the race to be the Tigers’ next quarterback.

His confidence and leadership have trickled down to his teammates, where they have picked up his confidence and gravitated towards his leadership.

On the defensive side of the ball, transfers like Elliott Washington II, Jerome Carter III, Corey Myrick, Markus Strong and London Merritt have lifted the defense up. Not only did they make plays in the spring, but they have stepped up as well, and like Vizzina, that have demonstrated confidence, toughness and leadership at the same time.

“We all have the same mission. We are all trying to accomplish the same thing,” Washington said. “We all have to put our heads down and go to work.”

And work is what head coach Dabo Swinney has seen from the entire team.

“This is a physical group, and this has been a physical spring,” he said. “These guys have taken to that, and nobody has shied away from that.”

What have we’ve learned from the Clemson football team so far this year?

They have more confidence in themselves than we do in them, and that is a good thing.