Swinney said Clemson went “back to the future” with its offensive coordinator hire in 2026 when the Tigers welcomed back offensive coordinator Chad Morris.
In Morris’ previous stint as offensive coordinator from 2011 through the end of the 2014 regular season, Clemson compiled a 41-11 record, recording a 27-6 mark against ACC opponents with a victory in the 2011 ACC Championship Game. His offense averaged 468.5 yards per game and 36.3 points per game in his 52 games as Clemson’s offensive coordinator from 2011-14, ranking ninth and 12th, respectively, among power conference teams in those categories in that span.
QUARTERBACKS
After Cade Klubnik entered the springs of 2023, 2024 and 2025 as Clemson’s relatively unquestioned starter, the Tigers will be in the unfamiliar position of seeking to identify a new starting quarterback this spring. The prospect of competition among Clemson’s current group excites Morris.
“I think we’ve got an incredibly talented quarterback room,” Morris said. “I know there are teams across the country that would love to have the talent that’s sitting in that room… I think you’ve got a great group that’s in there that’s going to create extreme competition.”
The first snaps of the spring will belong to Christopher Vizzina (Birmingham, Ala.), the fourth-year quarterback who joined Clemson as a national top-50 prospect and stood alongside Arch Manning as one of only two quarterbacks offered by Clemson in its 2023 recruiting class. Vizzina got his first career start in the absence of an injured Klubnik against SMU last October. He threw for 317 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions to become the first Clemson quarterback to throw three or more touchdown passes in his starting debut since Deshaun Watson against North Carolina in 2014, and Vizzina’s 317 passing yards were the fifth-most by a Clemson quarterback making his starting debut since 1953.
Clemson and college football cognoscenti got a view of one of the chief challengers to the position when Chris Denson (Plant City, Fla.) made an electric late-game appearance against Furman amid his redshirt season last fall. In that contest, the dual-threat southpaw rushed six times for a team-high 106 yards with a touchdown and completed 4-of-4 passes for 22 yards and another touchdown through the air. His 17.7-yards-per-carry average was the highest by a Clemson quarterback in a game with at least five attempts since Bobby Gage’s 30.3-yard average against Presbyterian in 1947.
Added competition joined the room in January with the arrivals of true freshmen Tait Reynolds (Queen Creek, Ariz.) and Brock Bradley (Birmingham, Ala.). The fleet-footed Reynolds elected to pursue football despite his status as one of the nation’s top-100 baseball recruits, and Bradley joined the Tigers after throwing for more than 7,600 career yards in becoming the winningest quarterback in the history of Spain Park High School at Alabama’s 6A level.
Clemson’s quarterback group also includes fifth-year senior Trent Pearman (Clemson, S.C.), a former two-time South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year.
RUNNING BACKS
Clemson enters the 2026 season having produced a running back with 10 or more rushing touchdowns in 10 of the last 11 years (the most in the nation), and the Tigers have featured a running back with 1,200 or more all-purpose yards in each of those 11 seasons, the nation’s longest active streak by seven years.
Like the quarterback position, competition for carries in the backfield is expected to be fierce this offseason following the graduation and NFL departure of Adam Randall, the team’s leading rusher from 2025. Sophomore Gideon Davidson (Lynchburg, Va.) was the team’s second-leading rusher a season ago, as the former top-100 national recruit picked up 201 of his 260 rushing yards in November and December.
Davidson’s entrenchment in Clemson’s top two at the position a season ago was perhaps accelerated by the absence of Jay Haynes (Roanoke, Ala.). Haynes showed his explosiveness across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, averaging 6.7 yards per carry on 49 career attempts. Haynes could have been the incumbent heading into the 2025 campaign, but a knee injury suffered on a kickoff return in the 2024 ACC Championship Game cost him the entirety of the 2025 season. Jarvis Green (Irmo, S.C.), who caught a touchdown in Clemson’s most recent College Football Playoff appearance in 2024, also returns this season after losing the 2025 campaign to injury.
David Eziomume (Acworth, Ga.) enters his redshirt sophomore season having appeared in 14 games across his first two seasons with the Tigers. The group added sprinter speed via transfer in the 2026 offseason as well, securing the services of former Miami (Fla.) and SMU running back Chris Johnson Jr. (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Johnson was a state title winner in Florida in the 100-meter (10.45) and 200-meter (20.78) dashes as a high schooler, and Clemson got a first-hand look at him as he accrued 99 all-purpose yards against the Tigers in Death Valley last October.
Two Georgia products round out the group: fourth-year back Peyton Streko (Cumming, Ga.) and second-year walk-on Max Wilson (Bogart, Ga.).
WIDE RECEIVERS
Those who emerge from Clemson’s competitions in the backfield will be the beneficiaries of a Clemson wide receiving corps counted by outside observers as one of the nation’s most talented.
Chad Morris’ stated desire to take three deep shots a quarter will likely start with Clemson’s marquee third-year perimeter threats: T.J. Moore (Key West, Fla.) and Bryant Wesco Jr. (Midlothian, Texas). The pair was one of only three duos nationally to have each player post 1,200+ receiving yards, nine or more receiving touchdowns and a yards-per-catch average of 15.0 or better over the last two seasons, joining Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate and Indiana’s Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr.
In the slot, the NFL departure of the uber-productive Antonio Williams frees up snaps for Clemson’s accumulated options at the position that will make for fascinating competition in spring ball and fall camp. The veteran of that group is Tyler Brown (Greenville, S.C.), the 2023 Freshman All-American whose 2024 season was derailed by an ankle injury and whose opportunity was limited by Williams’ All-ACC campaign a year ago. Down the stretch and into bowl preparation last season, both coaches and players began to routinely vocalize their growing excitement for now-redshirt-freshman Juju Preston (Alexandria, Va.), the slight but speedy career-receiving-touchdown leader in Virginia high school football history. And the position also got an added injection of juice with the midyear arrival of Naeem Burroughs (Jacksonville, Fla.), a consensus four-star receiver who was among the most nationally lauded prospects in Clemson’s 2026 recruiting class after posting more than 4,500 all-purpose yards during his prep career.
Redshirt junior Cole Turner (Vestavia Hills, Ala.) returns for his fifth season at Clemson, including a standard redshirt year and a medical redshirt season. Turner’s career to date includes more than 600 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns: two via reception and one via rush.
In addition to the aforementioned Burroughs, Clemson added four other receivers in its 2026 recruiting class. Connor Salmin (Round Hill, Va.) and Gordon Sellars III (Charlotte, N.C.) as midyear enrollees after signing in December, while Cam Blivens (Nashville, Tenn.) and Keil McGriff (Gainesville, Fla.) are slated to join the Tigers this summer after signing in February.
Clemson’s depth at receiver also includes returning wideouts Chase Byrd (Greenville, S.C.), Clark Sanderson (Birmingham, Ala.), Sam Earle (Clemson, S.C.), Jack Purkerson (Clemson, S.C.), Luke Stubbs (Charlotte, N.C.) and Avery Wieting (Lincoln, Neb.) in addition to transfer addition Jaylen Brown-Wallace (Central, S.C.), a local product who returned to the area after starting his collegiate career at Wingate.
TIGHT ENDS
Clemson’s tight ends have combined for 247 receptions over the last four seasons, reaching the 50-reception mark in each of those campaigns. Clemson, Bowling Green State, Louisiana, Michigan, Oregon and Penn State are the only six programs nationally to have their tight ends account for 50 catches in every season in that span. A deep group of contributors in 2026 will seek to continue Clemson’s run of production at the position.
Senior Olsen Patt-Henry (Naples, Fla.) started 10 games last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury in November. In addition to recording three touchdowns receptions amid his 28 career catches, he has emerged as one of the position’s most physical and substantial contributors in the running game in Clemson’s spread offense era since 2011.
Observers got a glimpse last season of why Clemson’s coaching staff has been so bullish on the future of redshirt sophomore Christian Bentancur (Lakemoor, Ill.). Bentancur started two of the 13 games in which he appeared in 2025, catching 20 passes for 215 yards and three scores, including a two-touchdown effort in a win at North Carolina.
The excitement for Bentancur has been paralleled by the excitement for redshirt freshman Logan Brooking (Bluffton, S.C.), who joined the Tigers one year later in Clemson’s 2025 recruiting class. The NFL legacy, who is the son of All-Pro Keith Brooking, scored a touchdown on his first career reception last season against Furman.
The group will be joined this summer by incoming freshman Tayveon Wilson (Huntington, W.Va.), a do-it-all tight end for whom the term “do-it-all” might not actually be enough. The four-sport star was the Gatorade Player of the Year in West Virginia on top of serving as his school’s student body president, an officer in its Latin Club and as a member of both the National Honor Society and the Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Honor Society. Clemson’s tight end group also includes Charlie Johnson (Columbia, S.C.), a converted wide receiver who is the son of long-time college coach Ellis Johnson.
OFFENSIVE LINE
A year ago, Clemson was encouraged by one of its deeper offensive line groups in recent memory, and the Tigers ended up needing every bit of that depth. Eight different offensive linemen started at least one game for Clemson, and Clemson started seven different offensive line combinations over its 13 games.
Four significant starters from recent years — tackles Blake Miller and Tristan Leigh, guard Walker Parks and center Ryan Linthicum — graduated, carrying with them a combined 11,028 offensive snaps over 194 career appearances with 161 starts. Opportunity awaits for Clemson’s young group in 2026 in their absence.
Clemson’s returning leader in career snaps from scrimmage is senior Harris Sewell (Odessa, Texas), a senior who has played 1,650 offensive snaps over 35 games (17 starts) since arriving in 2023. Second on the offense in that category is versatile redshirt senior Collin Sadler (Inman, S.C.), whose 1,291 career offensive snaps have included 10 starts at guard and five starts at tackle.
Elyjah Thurmon (Rienzi, Miss.) entered 2025 with high expectations after he impressively responded upon being thrust into action in reserve as a true freshman in 2024. But an ankle injury ended his impressive debut in 2024 and an early shoulder injury resulted in a redshirt season in 2025. Clemson and Thurmon will hope a clean bill of health can return him to the trajectory both parties envisioned amid his debut in 2024.
Mountainous tackle Brayden Jacobs (Milton, Ga.) played 368 snaps over 10 games with four starts in his impressive true freshman season in 2025 before being sidelined by a freak foot injury suffered jumping to celebrate a win at Louisville in November. Now-redshirt-sophomore Ronan O’Connell (Franklin, Tenn.) also worked into Clemson’s starting lineup late in the season, earning his first career start at guard in the 2025 Pinstripe Bowl.
Older options in the group include sixth-year senior Dietrick Pennington (Memphis, Tenn.), fifth-year senior Chapman Pendergrass (Anderson, S.C.), fourth-year redshirt sophomore Ian Reed (Austin, Texas) and third-year redshirt sophomore Mason Wade (Hamilton, Va.). Watson Young (Clemson, S.C.) is in his third year at Clemson, but injuries in his first two seasons have precluded him from making his collegiate debut.
The 2026 offseason will represent a significant development opportunity for a trio of second-year players seeking expanded roles. Easton Ware (Lynchburg, Va.) was in line for a rotational role as true freshman before being lost for the 2025 season to a shoulder injury suffered in fall camp. Meanwhile, Gavin Blanchard (Tampa, Fla.) and Tucker Kattus (Cincinnati, Ohio) both earned plaudits for their performances in reserve and scout team roles in their first seasons on campus a year ago.
Clemson signed one of the nation’s most-lauded offensive line classes in 2026, adding six acclaimed freshmen. Five members of the class joined the Tigers in January as midyear enrollees: Chance Barclay (Minneola, Fla.), Leo Delaney (Charlotte, N.C.), Carter Scruggs (Leesburg, Va.), Braden Wilmes (Lawrence, Kan.) and Grant Wise (Pace, Fla.). Adam Guthrie (Washington Court House, Ohio) will join the Tigers this summer.
Clemson’s offensive line unit is rounded out by Bryce Smith (Six Mile, S.C.) and Hayes Galloway (Concord, N.C.).
