For the second time in less than a week, Clemson has lost a quarterback to transfer. Fortunately for the Tigers, their depth chart at that position remains insanely good.
Clemson announced on Monday that Tucker Israel will transfer to another program after getting his degree. Israel, who appeared in two games and completed all four of his pass attempts as a redshirt freshman in 2016, did not play this past season. In high school, he surpassed Tim Tebow's state record for touchdown passes in a single season. At one point last offseason, Israel was in the competition to be the Tigers' starting quarterback, but an illness over the summer derailed those hopes.
Israel is the second quarterback to transfer from Clemson in the past week. Last Friday, Zerrick Cooper also announced he was transferring out.
But these aren't hard times for Clemson's quarterback room. Kelly Bryant returns as a senior and the situation behind him is loaded thanks to a depth chart with Hunter Johnson, Chase Bryce and Trevor Lawrence. Johnson and Brice were members of the 2017 class with the former earning a five-star label as one of the top quarterback recruits in the country. Johnson also saw playing time in seven games this past season. Lawrence was the No. 1 overall recruit for the 2018 signing class and enrolled early.
Barring injury, Bryant's job is likely safe for next season; the real battle will begin in 2019 with (presumably) two former five-star recruits in the mix.
Interestingly, Clemson won't be the only playoff-caliber program with an intriguing quarterback situation. Alabama and Georgia have incumbent starters in Jalen Hurts and Jake Fromm. However, Hurts was benched in the national title win in favor of freshman Tua Tagovailoa and Fromm's backup will likely be former five-star recruit Justin Fields.