Kelly Bryant takes on the Heisman winner he simulated in practice, and 4 other things to know about Clemson’s new QB

The No. 3 Clemson Tigers will take on the No. 14 Louisville Cardinals on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ABC) in a critical ACC Atlantic matchup. The Tigers beat the Cardinals in one of 2016’s best games.

Clemson doesn’t have Deshaun Watson anymore, but it has talented junior Kelly Bryant, a former three-star recruit from Calhoun Falls, S.C.

That’s according to Jeff Tate, Bryant’s former high school coach, in an interview with SB Nation.

Earlier this week, Clemson defensive end Austin Bryant drew further comparisons of Jackson and Bryant:

“(Lamar is) a special talent,” Bryant said. “He’s got a different gear. He’s strong, he’s fast. So it’s going to present us a great challenge, but I believe that we face that same thing in Kelly Bryant every day in practice. It should be just like putting practice on a game day atmosphere.”

Fellow defensive end Clelin Ferrell wasn’t quite as brash.

“Both of them are great athletes. Kelly, that’s the best look at what you’re going to get. Kelly don’t run as much as Lamar does, but you see that same type of athletic ability with Kelly. That makes it a lot easier for us to see guys like that on our (practice) field,” Bryant said. “We don’t get overwhelmed by anything that we see in our competition. Even though we respect everybody we play we don’t get overwhelmed because we feel like we have the best here and we go against it every day.”

“Talking to him before the [Auburn] game the other day, I said ‘Look, just go be KB,’ and he said, ‘Oh, yes sir, that’s all I can be.’” Tate said. “I hope that people will understand that he’s a special young man who is going to help Clemson win a lot of football games.

“As far as what Lamar does and what Kel does, it’s not like they’re going to play one-on-one in basketball. Because Lamar’s going against a great defense, and Kel’s going to go against a fine defense, because Louisville’s got a good defense. They’ve got speed, and they’re athletic.”

He finished his last two years at Wren High School in Piedmont, S.C., under Tate:

“In his first game, I think about the third time he carried it, he went about 75 yards for a touchdown, and we really didn’t block anybody,” Tate told SB Nation this week. “And I looked at one of our assistant coaches and he looked at me and said, ‘Oh, he’s one of those?’ [I said] ‘I believe he is.’”

During his junior season at his new school, Bryant threw for 2,800 yards and 28 touchdowns along with 1,200 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground. As a senior, Bryant set numerous school records, throwing for 3,579 yards and 41 touchdowns with 720 yards and 14 touchdowns rushing.

“We had one Division I receiver, who’s playing at Furman, so the other guys were really good high school football players, but he didn’t have an exceptional player who would have 1,200 to 1,400 yards himself,” Tate says. “So he was just one of those guys that understood that he had a role, and he knew how he was supposed to do it.”

Tate describes Bryant having several “popcorn droppers,” or moments “when people jump up and popcorn goes everywhere.”

“It’s magic,” Tate says. “There’s a lot of different things that people would say when they saw him play, because you’d never seen it before. You’d think ‘How does he do that? What an athlete,’ because he would make a throw and you’d go, ‘Oh my goodness, what the, woah.’ And then he would scramble, and you’d think he’s down and he’d pop out, and he’d be gone. He could fly; he’s a 6’4 kid who runs like he’s a 5’10 kid.

During that time, Clemson fans still got glimpses of Bryant’s athleticism:

“He got to sit behind and go to practice with and prepare with one of the best that’s played college football,” Tate said. “I think that was one of those situations where he made the most of it because he observed him on how he handled things, and some of the things that he did and some of the things that he’d say. They have a good relationship.”

During Clemson’s opener against Kent State, he put up 313 total yards and two scores, including this breezy bomb:

In a much bigger game, against Auburn, he put up 240 yards and rushed for two touchdowns, including this bruising run to cap an 88-yard drive.

Here’s Card Chronicle’s film breakdown on Bryant’s first couple of games:

Bryant has really impressed me throwing the ball. I remembered how uncomfortable he seemed in the little bit of playing time he got last year and expected some nerves in his first game. Instead, he came out and completed 16 of 22 (with a couple of drops in there) and his best throw was on his first drive on a deep ball to Deon Cain. Bryant has been inaccurate at times, but when he has time he has been really on the money.

What’s impressed me most is that his deep ball is great and when he throws to his outside receivers he gives them a shot to make the play instead of the cornerback. I expect Clemson to try to establish a running game early so that they can work a lot of play action in the rest of the game. That will give Bryant the opportunity to go for the deep ball more often. Bryant hasn’t thrown a lot of passes in the middle of the field so there is still not a lot to know about his accuracy in a crowd.

Shakin’ The Southland thinks this year’s matchup looks pretty similar to 2016’s on paper:

It’ll be a similar situation here for Kelly Bryant as he now goes up against the best QB in the nation, but is surrounded by advantages.

Clemson has more talent and experience at the skill positions. At WR, Deon Cain and Hunter Renfrow give Bryant much more proven threats than anything Jackson has to work with. At RB, Jackson will be faking handoffs to QB-turned-WR-turned-RB Reggie Bonnafon (former three-star) and JUCO transfer Malik Williams (former three-star). Bryant has three talented backs he can trust with CJ Fuller, Adam Choice, and Tavien Feaster. Clemson’s skill position players average 3.70 compared to just 3.00 for Louisville. Four-star talents like Deon Cain and Ray-Ray McCloud make explosive plays easier for a QB!