CLEMSON, S.C. -- As spring practice opens at Clemson, Dabo Swinney has a clear No. 1 on his quarterback depth chart, but he's far from ready to name a starter for the season.
Swinney said junior Kelly Bryant is "definitely the starter" going into the spring, but the early impressions of top recruit Hunter Johnson have turned heads, too. Johnson, the top QB recruit in the ESPN 300, enrolled in January.
"Kelly's clearly No. 1, and there's no doubt about that," Swinney said. "He'd go play for us today, and I'd be excited to see him. But how's he going to take that role and respond to it?"
In other words, the door is open for all four quarterbacks on the current depth chart, and Johnson has impressed in the early going.
Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott arrived at Clemson's football facility before 7 on Wednesday morning, the first day of the Tigers' spring practice. There, at a table in the cafeteria eating breakfast with an offensive lineman, was Johnson.
"You ready?" Scott asked.
"Coach," Johnson said, grinning, "I am."
It was all Scott needed to hear. Six weeks into his college career, Johnson is already impressing with his confidence.
"That guy is really ready," Scott said. "He's very serious, and just the way he's carried himself, he's very focused and very excited about the opportunity."
To start the spring, Johnson will be, at best, the third man in the pecking order behind Bryant and redshirt freshman Zerrick Cooper. Redshirt sophomore Tucker Israel is in the mix, too, and freshman Chase Brice arrives this summer.
That's a similar setup to Deshaun Watson's arrival, when he trailed Cole Stoudt and Chad Kelly on Clemson's spring depth chart in 2014. That year, Swinney was curious enough to see the freshman in action that he made his QBs live -- that is, he allowed defenders to get hits on them -- and Watson ended up getting hurt in a scrimmage. That doesn't sound likely to happen this year, as Swinney downplayed the idea of following a similar plan.
After Watson recovered in 2014, however, he quickly closed ground on Stoudt for the starting job, and Swinney could envision that situation happening in 2017. In other words, Swinney said, there are no guarantees that this battle gets settled before opening day.
"Maybe it gets resolved in the spring, maybe it doesn't," he said. "I have no idea. Sometimes it can carry over into the season before you can really sort it out."
For now, Bryant is approaching the job as the starter, but he's being careful not to try to mimic his predecessor. Scott told each of the quarterbacks Monday that he didn't want four players trying to be Deshaun Watson, and that's exactly what Bryant wanted to hear.
"I'm just trying to be myself," Bryant said. "Deshaun was his own person. I want to be simple, go about things the way I look at them. I took a lot from Deshaun and tried to incorporate it, but I'm not trying to be Deshaun."
For now, that's plenty. But as spring ball progresses, even Bryant admits it's tough to predict what's in store, and the newest QB in the locker room seems to have as good a shot as anyone else at landing the full-time job.
"He came in very confident," Bryant said of Johnson. "He's been working, his attitude is what you want to see in a guy, and it's been very impressive to see."