Unyielding, confident Kelly Bryant ready for the season
With August camp coming to a close, there’s as much speculation as ever over how this whole quarterback situation is going to play itself out.
Over the next couple days, Dabo Swinney will sit down with his staff to discuss the opening-week depth chart and who came out on top as the No. 1 quarterback.
But there’s at least been one constant during this highly sensitive offseason surrounding the men behind center.
Kelly Bryant and the smile he usually wears.
There were plenty of spectators out there who had their doubts about how Bryant would hold up this summer with a looming Trevor Lawrence closing the gap. Almost a year ago to the day, Bryant was named Clemson’s starter after a summer full of separation and putting in the work behind closed doors.
Bryant has carried that same tune this August, only focussing on what he can control. And from what we’ve heard over the last week or so, there’s no reason to believe Bryant won’t be the first quarterback on the field Sept. 1.
Bryant has not wavered with the five-star behind him; pushing him. He’s done the opposite.
The same experience Bryant had when he won over the starting job last August has helped make him an even better player this time around. He was adjusting, still learning how to play the quarterback position at the highest level. It came with plenty of ups and downs, but the improvement has been steady.
And who would have thought Bryant could be even more confident in himself?
When he met with the media after Clemson’s last practice of August camp, he was his loose, usual self. Not being intimidated by questions about his abilities as a quarterback, but entertaining the fact he may have hit a house or two at the annual quarterback golf outing.
“Hopefully they have some insurance,” he joked.
One of his most significant areas he had to improve upon if he was going maintain starter status was his ability to hit receivers consistently downfield. Heck, even he admitted all he has to do is put his monster receivers in the right position to go up and make a play instead of overthrowing them.
“That’s something I’ve been stressing,” Bryant said. “Making sure I’m hitting my landmarks, the spots they’re going to be down the field. So that’s two of the big things I’ve been emphasizing and putting into the deep ball.”
With the wind in his face at practice on Tuesday, Bryant showed the media in attendance he’s gained more touch to his deep ball, hitting Diondre Overton in stride. He’s shown he’s capable, but consistency will be key as he pointed out.
You can always work to improve any of your mechanics, but another enhanced area of growth for Bryant this summer has been being more comfortable managing the offense behind center. We saw the relaxed, comfortable Deshaun Watson do this all too well, especially in 2016.
Reading coverages. Making changes at the line of scrimmage here and there. It’s what made Watson so lethal with the ball in his hands.
While Bryant isn’t where the former Clemson quarterback was mentally, there has been progress. And, of course, confidence.
“It just comes with the territory,” Bryant said. “You’ve been in the offense for such a long time; my confidence is growing. It’s still growing, I’m still learning as well, but you know, now I feel like I got a little bit more loose. I can make some calls because I have experience and I know what to see pre and post-snap.”
While the ability to connect with receivers in the downfield passing game is important, there’s so much more to playing the quarterback position than making the right throws. The mental game of orchestrating the offense, much like a good point guard in basketball, could make the difference in crunch time.
Everything in the game was so fast for Bryant one year ago. He’s always had the freedom to make in-game changes pre-snap, but with a year of experience under his belt, the game has begun to slow down.
It’s shown in all of Clemson’s scrimmages this August. There were multiple times this camp that Swinney came out of a scrimmage and said Bryant had his best day. Let’s be honest, it was going to take a major slip up for Bryant to lose the job, at least during the summer.
But how he’s handled everything since the spring game - the speculation, improving his game, the competition - has been something special.
“It’s competition… It can bring the best out of you,” Bryant said. “Some days it can be good, some days it can be not so good, especially when you’re going against Coach (Brent) Venables and all those guys. They make it hard for you. The biggest thing is making sure I don’t get too high or too low and just trying to stay consistent and improve as well. Those are the things I’ve been honing on myself and just engraving it, not to get too high or too low.”
Bryant has done his best to lead by example, especially the younger quarterbacks who have pushed him every day. Sure, the competition can seem heated from the outside, but the reality is these three just want to win.
They’ve all helped each other out so when the time comes for any of them to take the reigns, they’ll be ready to roll.
Swinney has mentioned a few times this August that a multiple-quarterback system could very much be in play as the season begins. The battle between Bryant and Lawrence has been close enough to where it’ll have to be settled in an actual game.
When Bryant was asked how this type of system could affect his rhythm or his focus in the middle of a game, he was short.
“Stay ready,” he said.
Fall camp is over, and Bryant has done everything he could have possibly done. His spirits are high.
Now, we wait.