Clemson football has biggest challenge against Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman

CLEMSON – In its past two games, Clemson football has had issues against a couple quarterbacks who seemed unlikely to cause problems against what was expected to be one of the best defenses in the country.

Furman’s Tyler Huff, a graduate transfer from another FCS school, Presbyterian from the non-scholarship Pioneer League, completed 77.5% of his passes for 259 yards and a touchdown. Last week, Louisiana Tech’s Parker McNeil, a redshirt senior making his second career start for his third team, passed for 311 yards and a touchdown.

Now the Tigers face one of the best quarterbacks in ACC history.

Sam Hartman of Wake Forest ranks 10th all-time in passing yards and needs 109 more to reach 10,000. That will put him 169 from eclipsing former Clemson quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson for sixth place.

Fifth-ranked Clemson (3-0, 1-0 ACC) plays Saturday (noon, ABC) against defending Atlantic Division champion No. 16 Wake Forest (3-0, 0-0) at Truist Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

“Sam Hartman is a great challenge,” Clemson defensive co-coordinator Mickey Conn said. “We’re excited for the challenge with him and all of them that we’ll see in the ACC.”

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The upcoming lineup of opposing quarterbacks as the Tigers get into the heart of the schedule is nothing like they’ve faced so far. After this game, through mid-October are Devin Leary of N.C. State, Phil Jurkovek of Boston College, Jordan Travis of Florida State, Garrett Shrader of Syracuse and Malik Cunningham of Louisville, respectively.

The Tigers against Louisiana Tech mostly filled holes they had defending the short-pass game of Furman. But others appeared. It didn’t help that they were without seven key players, four on the line and three in the backfield. Louisiana Tech had six passes of at least 25 yards.

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“The biggest disappointment is that we’ve had some busts,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Guys are going to make competitive plays. That’s football. There’s not any team in the country that doesn’t give up a competitive play. … We’ve got to clean up some tackling. There have been some big plays that have come from missed tackles, where we could’ve covered up some mistakes.

Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman (10) sets up to pass the ball against Clemson safety Jalyn Phillips (25) during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021, in Clemson, S.C. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

“… We’re a work in progress for sure. But we’ve done a lot of good things. The big thing is that we’ve kept them out of the end zone (having allowed two touchdowns all the season until Louisiana Tech scored two in the fourth quarter).”

Hartman played his senior year of high school at Oceanside Collegiate in Mount Pleasant, passing for 3,000 yards and 29 touchdowns while running for nine. He missed this season’s opener because he was recovering from surgery for a blood clot. In two games, he’s thrown for seven touchdowns and leads the ACC with an average of 312.5 passing yards.

“I’m happy to see that he’s healthy, more than anything,” said Clemson defensive end K.J. Henry, a Winston-Salem native whose father, Keith, was an assistant coach for Wake Forest. “Glad to see him back. I know he’s ready to grind and make a statement and take us down at home. … We’re really going to try to set the tone for the game early. That’s going to be a big focus for us.”

Todd Shanesy covers Clemson athletics for the USA TODAY Network.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football’s defense has bigger challenge with ACC quarterbacks