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Take Two: What happens at quarterback for Clemson?

Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

MORE: Farrell's top 10 coaches | Big Ten preview | Can Michigan's offense step up? | Commits of the week

THE STORYLINE

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Kelly Bryant
Kelly Bryant (AP)

Kelly Bryant or Trevor Lawrence? That is the question.

Clemson has another quarterback battle on its hands as it looks to make another run at the College Football Playoff. Led by a defensive front where all four linemen could be first-round selections and an entire defense that should be phenomenal on all three levels, Clemson has high hopes for 2018.

The question for the Tigers, though, is who will be named the starting quarterback. Bryant won the job in fall camp last season and is a dual-threat problem for other defenses as he threw for 2,802 yards with 13 touchdowns and eight picks, not great numbers, but also rushed for 665 yards and 11 scores.

Lawrence was the No. 1 player in the 2018 class from start to finish, a rare talent that Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell called the best quarterback he’s ever scouted. The five-star from Cartersville, Ga., has special abilities and might exactly be what Clemson needs in its downfield passing attack.

After Bryant led Clemson back to the College Football Playoff and is a really talented player in his own right, can coach Dabo Swinney sideline him in favor of Lawrence, maybe one of the best quarterbacks to come out of the prep ranks in some time? Fall camp is going to play the biggest factor, but there’s no easy answer here with two quarterbacks so highly skilled and special.

TAKE ONE: LARRY WILLIAMS, TIGERILLUSTRATED.COM

“It depends on what happens in August. Remember: This time a year ago, even the coaches were going into August camp thinking they were going to see a lengthy battle among Bryant, Hunter Johnson and Zerrick Cooper. But then camp began and Bryant ran away with it in short order after making a major jump between April and August.

"While Lawrence showed in the spring that he's closing fast, I don't think it's wise to dismiss the possibility that Bryant could have made similar improvements this offseason -- an offseason which, by the way, has been dominated by assumptions that Lawrence is going to be the guy.

"I think if things are even then Bryant starts. His status as the returning starter, the fact that he guided the 2017 team to 12 wins, an ACC title and another CFP appearance, are big check marks in his favor and give him the benefit of the doubt if all things are equal. Lawrence is going to have to make a decisive case. Not saying he can't do that during camp, but at this point the odds seem to favor Bryant starting the season as the No. 1 guy and the battle being sorted out from there.

"But there is so much uncertainty on this topic. I don't think even the coaches know what's going to happen. There's just still so much left to unfold between now and the Tigers' opener against Furman. As far as how things play out over the season, I see Lawrence getting significant playing time. He's a transcendent player by all accounts and that type of talent plays right away.”

TAKE TWO: MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS.COM

“Lawrence should start. Let him be the guy, let him learn. It is going to happen sooner or later, so the sooner they get Lawrence in their offense and as the guy, the better.

“If it doesn’t work out or he struggles a little bit, you have Bryant to come off the bench. It’s very clear which one is the more talented quarterback and which one is the more talented playmaker. Bryant led them to the playoff and all that good stuff but Lawrence is just a special, rare passer.”

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