It’s Early, but Coaches Impressed with Freshman Quarterback
“He is just raw. He is a good athlete,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.
Denson was one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the 2025 recruiting class. The Plant City, Florida native completed 65.4 percent of his 217 pass attempts last year, while throwing for 2,334 yards. More impressive is the fact he threw 28 TDs and had just three interceptions, while leading his team to a 9-3 record and a spot in the playoffs.
Denson also ran for 1,159 yards and scored 12 touchdowns, while averaging 10.3 yards per carry.
“The game just kind of comes easy to him. He understands the game,” Swinney said. “He is a great athlete just like we thought. He is a natural. The guy can motor.”
Like most true freshman quarterbacks, the game is moving fast for Denson at the moment. Like Swinney said, he is raw.
“We got a lot of work to do to get where we need to be. But you have to start somewhere,” the Clemson head coach said.
Denson picked up things well in high school, as one of the top quarterbacks in the state of Florida.
A two-year starter, Denson completed 63.6 percent of his career passes for 4,813 yards and 55 touchdowns with just 13 interceptions. He also added 1,940 career rushing yards on 207 carries, a 9.4-yard average.
The true freshman collected 16 rushing touchdowns with eight 100-yard rushing games over his career.
In his last high school game, against West Orange, he saved his best for last. Denson totaled 235 rushing yards on 18 carries and threw for 202 yards on 11-of-19 passes against West Orange.
The Tigers really like Denson’s potential, and the fact he has a year or two to grow both physically and mentality behind starter Cade Klubnik and backup Christopher Vizzina.
“The game is fast. He’s just a raw quarterback,” Swinney said.
But he has a chance to be a really good one.
