Streeter: Splitting reps is going to be difficult this spring

NEW ORLEANS — Brandon Streeter was enjoying himself on Saturday.

Though Clemson’s quarterbacks coach was fielding questions left and right about this year quarterback Kelly Bryant and what the future might hold for the position with so many good and talented quarterbacks in his room, he was having the time of his life at the Sugar Bowl’s Media Day Event at the Superdome in New Orleans.

“I have great players, man! This is the best,” he said with a big grin on his face.

Though he is happy and obviously loves what he does on Dabo Swinney’s staff, Streeter might have the most challenging job of any position coach in college football next year.

On Dec. 20, Trevor Lawrence, the nation’s No. 1 overall player by 247 Sports, signed his LOI with the Tigers and is expected to enroll at Clemson in January. When spring practice rolls around in two months, he will be ready to compete for reps, along with Bryant, Hunter Johnson, Zerrick Cooper, Tucker Israel and Chase Brice.

“The reps are going to be the difficult thing,” Streeter said to The Clemson Insider. “We have always done a good job, and I have always tried to emphasis, whether I’m recruiting a guy or the guys that we have here now: Number one, you gave to earn it. You have to earn your playing time and you have to earn your reps at practice, too.

“A lot of times the reps at practice are not going to be equal. So it is not going to fair.”

Streeter says he has always been very clear with his quarterbacks when communicating how many reps they will get in spring practice, fall camp and in practice during the season. The former Clemson quarterback also gets them to understand that right now Bryant is the starter and he is going to get the reps he needs.

“Then comes Zerrick, Hunter, Tucker, Chase Brice and Trevor Lawrence,” he said. “They are all talented guys and they all have the abilities to be great players. I think it is important for them to continue to take things one day at a time and continue to make sure every rep that they get, they make it count.”

The reason Streeter is so happy is because he knows the competition is what is going to make all of his quarterbacks better in the long run.

“As we get closer to the spring, I’ll have to figure out the reps,” he said. “But they are all going to have an opportunity. I mentioned it earlier that Kelly, Zerrick and Hunter have gotten the reps this fall. They are getting all the reps in practice and in games so I need to make sure Chase, Trevor and Tucker get some more reps this spring.

“I’m not saying more than the other guys, but I have a feeling for what those other guys can do, but I need to give Chase an opportunity. I need to give Trevor an opportunity to show us what they have.”

Streeter says it is all going to come down to how fast they can learn the system.

“They all can do it,” he said. “They all have the talent, the ability and the smarts about them. They are really, really good at that. It is just a matter of them learning the system and then the reps and obviously the experience is where you get your confidence from.”