Clemson’s QB Situation Resolved, For Now

It is somewhat hard to believe that just a little more than two years ago Willy Korn, who finished second to Parker but “has been assured” he’ll still get playing time, was being strongly considered as a starter when he was a true freshman who enrolled in January of 2007.

Korn is the only quarterback on the Clemson roster who has significant game experience (third-string QB Michael Wade took two snaps in 2008) and that actually may have played to his detriment in the battle to be the starter this time.

In his only career start last year against Georgia Tech he suffered a shoulder injury that set him back for several months.  As a true freshman in ‘07 he was also injured in a game (to the extent that he was ablel to get the year back from the NCAA via a medical hardship) and, again, it prevented him from being all that he could be in spring practice of 2008.

Just how much that impacted him in this latest battle to become number one on the depth chart is anyone’s guess.

As for Parker, while he didn’t play in a game last season as a true freshman as he redshirted, he’s played two seasons under the microscope of Clemson baseball.  Granted, the crowds are more in the five-thousand range than the 75,000-80,000 range but at least he has been in somewhat of a spotlight as a Clemson athlete and that should, in some small way, help in easing a few of the butterflies when the Tigers open against Middle Tennessee September 5th.

I do wonder exactly when Clemson’s coaches came to the conclusion that Parker was the guy.  He appeared to have the better spring and was impressive in the spring game.  Was the feeling that naming him the starter then might either lead to some complacency on his part during the summer or give Korn the opportunity to think about moving on?

What also needs to be considered with Parker is that he will likely go relatively high in next June’s baseball draft.  It’s conceivable that even if he has a great season playing quarterback he could well be tempted by baseball’s bonus money to make the jump.

For Korn, he’s kept a professional demeanor throughout a process that appeared to turn in Parker’s direction in the spring and Korn notes that based on who was getting the reps recently he saw Monday’s announcement coming.  I do think he’ll settle into his role as the back-up for this season and see just how much playing time comes his way.  I really don’t have a gauge on what he’ll do after that.  He’s always noted he grew up as a Clemson fan and that fact that he’s about three years in to his academic career may be enough to prevent him from getting the itch to transfer.

Of course the wild card in all of this is that Parker and Korn may simply be keeping the seat warm this season for Tajh Boyd, the highly regarded freshman who they hope to redshirt this season as much to allow his surgically repaired knee further heal.

But for now the adage that it’s a good problem to have when you have more than one player at a position is being put to the test.

A year from now, it’s conceivable that neither of the top two could be the one competing with Boyd for the top job.