CLEMSON — Clemson freshman Tait Reynolds is growing up right before our eyes.

The Tigers’ starting quarterback is not only learning how to read defenses, but he is also learning how to handle the media.

On Tuesday, he was asked if he has assumed a leadership role on the offense, now that he has started the last three games. Like any veteran, he totally went around the answer, knowing a freshman, if he is a quarterback, needs to be earned.

“I think I think there’s a lot of really good leaders on the team and I think we can all kind of claim it as our team and I think we all have a big say,” he said wisely. “There are a lot of defensive guys, a lot of offensive guys that take huge parts and huge roles on this team and we all kind of feed off each other and take after each other and yeah, to answer your question, I think there are a lot of leaders.”

It was the perfect answer for a young man who is literally learning on the job.

Part of being the quarterback at Clemson, a school that has great expectations every year, is knowing how to properly handle questions from the media, as well learning schemes, and defensive coverages and structures.

Reynolds is handling them all well to this point. Granted he is not perfect and he is still making freshman mistakes on the field, but his performance against Miami on Oct. 3 showed everyone a lot.

He showed poise, leadership and the ability to make plays against one of the top defenses in the country.

Reynolds completed a career best 29 completions on a career-high 44 attempts for a career best 295 yards. Yes, he was sacked six times—definitely not all on him—and he turned the ball over twice.

However, despite being hurried, sacked and hit all night, his only throwing mistakes of the game came on his last pass, on fourth down, with the game already decided and he was trying to make a play.

Considering the magnitude of the game and who he was playing, he played well for the most part.

“I’m just starting to understand it more and more every week,” Reynolds said. “And yeah, there were some moments in the game I was kind of you’re not really distracted by the moment so much. You’re kind of just all right, just back to work. Kind of just playing like you did in high school.

“So, Coach Morris talked to me about that week last week. I kind of took that and I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re right, man.’ Like just kind of play how I always have.”

Reynolds and the Tigers will try to play better on Saturday when they host Charleston Southern at noon inside Memorial Stadium.