CLEMSON — As Clemson football heads into summer workouts next month, Dabo Swinney sent a clear message to his team before releasing them from spring practices.

“Nobody has lifetime contracts around here. Everybody has to prove it. Everybody has to show up. Everybody has to earn it,” he said.

This was the message Swinney wanted to convey to his team after last year’s star players seemed content and did not appear to be as hungry as their head coach would have liked. It appeared as if they felt they could not lose their job or were not pushed as hard.

Swinney is not making that mistake again. He wanted his team to know that every job is up for grabs going into fall camp and, as of right now, no one is a starter.

This message is especially being heard at quarterback where Swinney claimed it is now a two-man race to replace three-year starter Cade Klubnik.

Christopher Vizzina is in pole position, as Swinney says it, while true freshman Tait Reynolds is a close second. Trent Pearman, Brock Bradley and Chris Denson fall in line behind the two.

Swinney also said Denson could move to another position in the fall. The verdict is still out on that situation.

As for who will start at quarterback, coming out of the spring, it is still too close to call.

“CV did not do anything to back up, but Tait has done everything to move forward,” Swinney said. “There were a bunch of guys battling for that second spot and he cleared that…he came out of that smoke first with that group.”

Reynolds is the first true freshman quarterback to come in and make a move in the spring since Trevor Lawrence did the same in 2018. He started to make a push at incumbent Kelly Bryant.

Lawrence eventually won the job by Week 5 of the 2018 regular season and then led the Tigers to an undefeated season and a third national championship.

No one is saying Reynolds is going to take Clemson to a national championship, but he is capable of winning the job. Swinney said it was obvious after the first scrimmage Reynolds deserved to be the No. 2 guy, so they moved him up for the second half of spring practices.

“Now he has a big summer ahead of him. He is just going to keep getting better, but I do not think CV is going to go backwards,” Swinney said. “So, it should be a great and competitive summer and fall camp. And then you go and play games.

“We do not get three preseason games. We do not get any of that stuff, so all we can do is evaluate based on preseason practice. But I am very encouraged and not just with those two guys, but by the room. I think we can use all of those guys, and they can help us win if needed. So, we will see how it all plays out.”