Trevor Lawrence is the nation’s favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. He enters his third season as the starting quarterback on the nation’s top-ranked team.

The junior has already won one national championship and played in another while posting a 25-1 record as Clemson’s starting quarterback. The Tigers know who their starting quarterback is, but how about the guy behind Lawrence? Who will be that guy?

Clemson’s backup quarterback position is still up in the air, according to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. Right now, redshirt freshman Taisun Phommachanh and D.J. Uiagalelei are neck-and-neck in their competition with three weeks to go before the Tigers travel to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take on Wake Forest in the season opener on Sept. 12.

“We have a long way to go. They are both competing every single day,” Swinney said. “We have three weeks to go so every rep counts and every day counts.”

Swinney said both Phommachanh and Uiagalelei are excellent prospects and have shown off their talents in practice.

“They are different. They are similar is some regards, but they are different as well,” Swinney said.

Last year, Phommachanh played in three games before being redshirted. He completed 6 of 12 passes for 85 yards, while running for 56 yards on 12 carries as well.

“Taisun has been here a year and he is a guy who is a little bit more of a developmental guy from where he started, but man he has made huge strides in a year. He is very talented,” Swinney said.

Uiagalelei came to Clemson in January with the same kinds of credentials as Lawrence and former Clemson great Deshaun Watson. At 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, he was ranked as the No. 1 quarterback and No. 2 overall player in the country coming out of high school.

He led his high school team at St. John Bosco High School in Inland Empire, Calif, to a national championship his senior year. The high school All-American passed for 10,496 yards in his high school career with 127 touchdowns against 11 interceptions.

Uiagalelei participated in Clemson’s nine spring practices and continued to develop in the system during the off-season and in fall camp.

“D.J. is as advertised. He is just a very, very gifted player,” Swinney said. “He is almost 250 pounds. He is just not a typical freshman coming in here.

“He has just really picked things up quickly. It is a heck of a competition and a great battle. They are both doing some really good things.”

Regardless of how the competition turns out, Swinney feels he can put either Phommachanh or Uiagalelei out on the field and they are both capable of leading the Tigers to victory.

“I am confident in both of them. I think we can win with either one of them,” the Clemson coach said. “I really believe that, but obviously, one of them has to run out there second at some point, so we will see how it all plays out.”

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