CLEMSON — In his first spring game, Chris Denson showed flashes of what the Clemson coaching staff saw during the recruiting process.

The left-handed signal caller was a late addition to the Tigers’ 2025 recruiting class. Denson originally committed to Coastal Carolina last spring, but Clemson would ultimately flip the underrated dual-threat Florida talent in late November.

Denson was an under-the-radar type of prospect, with Pitt and Minnesota being his only other Power-4 offers. However, Clemson saw something in Denson that most others did not, and on Saturday, some of those traits were on full display.

“He may be really spinning, but you don’t ever see it, and you don’t ever feel it,” head coach Dabo Swinney said. “He is just calm and cool all the time. That is one of the things I really like about him, he has a ton of poise.”

Denson finished the afternoon a perfect 4-of-4 passing for 53 yards, and he flashed his ability to beat defenders with his legs, including a 12-yard run that would have went for much more had the quarterbacks been live.

“He’s got to develop his lower half when it comes to really delivering the ball the way he needs to deliver it, and that will come,” Swinney said. “He is just a little raw there. But he is smart. He understands and sees it. He is instinctive. He obviously can really, really run.”

During his high school days, Denson was a two-year starter for Plant City, completing 64% of his passes for 4,813 yards with 55 touchdowns to just 13 interceptions. He also rushed for more than 1,900 yards and averaged well over nine yards per carry. Eight different times, he rushed for more than 100 yards in a game.

While he is still a true freshman that is making the jump to big-time college football, and he is likely to need a year to hone his skills, there certainly is a lot to like about Denson’s performance on Saturday.

“He’s just got a lot of poise,” Swinney said. “For him to go out there the first time, he was awesome.”