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QB Chase Brice, Trevor Lawrence's backup at Clemson, will transfer

Trevor Lawrence’s backup has hit the transfer portal.

Chase Brice, the No. 2 quarterback behind Lawrence at Clemson the past two seasons, announced Thursday that he is leaving the school as a graduate transfer. Brice was a redshirt sophomore for the Tigers in 2019, meaning he will have two seasons of eligibility remaining at his next school.

After redshirting in 2017, Brice began the 2018 season as the No. 3 quarterback. And when Kelly Bryant left the school after he was benched in favor of Lawrence, Brice moved up the depth chart. He was quickly pressed into action as Lawrence was injured in his first career start against Syracuse. Brice would complete 7-of-13 passes for 83 yards that day and lead a game-winning 94-yard touchdown drive in the game’s final minutes.

Other than his relief effort against Syracuse, Brice played in garbage time for the Tigers. With the margin of victory in most Clemson games, there was plenty of that. Overall, Brice completed 82-of-136 passes for 1,023 yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions while hitting on 60.3 percent of his throws. He also rushed for 187 yards and a TD on 30 carries.

Clemson's Chase Brice (7) passes the ball against North Carolina State during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)
Clemson's Chase Brice (7) passes the ball against North Carolina State during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

With Lawrence entrenched as starter for another year and so much quarterback talent in the pipeline for Clemson — the team signed four-star recruit Taisun Phommachanh in 2019 and five-star recruit D.J. Uiagalelei in 2020 — Brice’s transfer was an expected development. With his experience backing up Lawrence, he could be a hot commodity for quarterback-needy teams.

Several other graduate transfer quarterbacks have already found new schools. Jamie Newman, formerly of Wake Forest, landed at Georgia while ex-South Carolina QB Jake Bentley is headed to Utah.

Other available graduate transfer quarterbacks include D’Eriq King (Houston), K.J. Costello (Stanford), Anthony Brown (Boston College), Feleipe Franks (Florida) and Jett Duffey (Texas Tech).

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