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Clemson planning on facing multiple quarterbacks
Not much can be certain when No. 11 Clemson heads to Louisville to take on the Cardinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night in both teams’ ACC opener, but one thing is for sure: Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables is preparing for everything.
So far Louisville (0-2) has played three quarterbacks this season and the Tigers (2-0) are preparing for each one of them.
“I expect fully, we will see for sure two quarterbacks just because they like what both bring to the table,” Venables told The Clemson Insider.
Cardinals head coach Bobby Petrino started sophomore Reggie Bonnafon in Louisville’s season-opening loss to Auburn, then followed by naming freshman Lamar Jackson the starting QB versus Houston. Petrino also played sophomore Kyle Bolin against the Cougars.
On the season, Bonnafon is 8-for-13 for 67 yards, Jackson has completed 26 of his 47 attempts for 268 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, while Bolin has connected on 10 of his 18 attempts for 157 yards and one TD.
Venables said both Jackson and Bonnafon have some similarities.
“Lamar is a little bit different in some ways, but in some ways he is very similar to Reggie Bonnafon, in that they are mobile and they can throw,” Venables told The Clemson Insider. They can extend plays. We faced (Bonnafon) last year, and in this conference we see plenty of pocket guys that can execute and throw on rhythm.”
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney feels his defense will be ready to go no who takes the snaps for Louisville on Thursday.
“We are going to be fine regardless of what they do,” Swinney told The Clemson Insider. “When (Bolin) comes in there, he really looked like he had great command of their system and of their offense and they asked him to do different things. When (Bonnafon) or (Jackson) were in there they were a little more spread principles with speed motions and a quarterback-run game built in.
“With (Jackson) you have to cover them forever because he has the ability to run around and extend time and there are some plays on tape where with that guy, you just put a clock on him and it is like eleven seconds. It is unbelievable the amount of time he buys. That is a long time and these receivers they have are big, tall, long athletic guys.”
(h/t The Clemson Insider)
