Clemson had a crowded quarterback competition prior to the start of the 2017 season with Kelly Bryant winning the job and remaining the starter throughout the year.
The competition isn't going to be any less crowded heading into the 2018 season.
In addition to Bryant and backup quarterbacks Zerrick Cooper and Hunter Johnson, the top overall recruit in the country _ Trevor Lawrence _ also will be in the mix.
The Tigers also have Chase Brice on their roster after he redshirted this past season as a freshman.
"It's fun. It's competitive. But we're all really supportive of each other. Coach (Brandon) Streeter does a really good job of kind of instilling that in us. It's been fun, but we're all learning, all getting better," Johnson said leading up to the Sugar Bowl. "They're coming in here for the same reasons I came here. Clemson's a great place, great school, great football team, great community. It's just going to be competitive, but it's going to be fun too."
Johnson battled with Cooper for the backup job throughout the 2017 season and was set to be the first quarterback to play in the latter part of the year had Bryant gone down.
The Indiana native and former five-star recruit said he has no plans to transfer and is excited to battle for the starting job as he looks to continue to improve as a player.
Johnson completed 21 of 27 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception this past season.
"I definitely feel like I've learned a lot, just with all the different teams we've faced, different schemes and different plays that we've added," Johnson said. "With the way they schedule practices and meetings it's almost impossible not to learn a lot. So they've done a good job of that and I'm just going to continue to learn more."
Cooper, who was the backup quarterback early in the year before giving way to Johnson, said he enjoyed his redshirt freshman season.
The Georgia native was 25 of 41 passing for 256 yards. He had two touchdowns, no interceptions and also rushed for 18 yards.
"It's been pretty good for me. I got a chance to play the game that I love still, and being around this team and just building up a bond with the team, it's been an amazing journey to get back to this point," Cooper said leading up to the Sugar Bowl.
"We pretty much don't look at it as competition. We all want to be the starting quarterback. At the same time we have a bond that we cheer each other on, have fun, stuff like that. We still kick it together and everything that we should do on and off the field. We just have fun together."
Cooper did not seem as certain about returning to the Tigers but was not ready to make a decision when he was in New Orleans.
"If God's calling me to leave then so be it," Cooper said. "But right now I'm just focusing on the season and finishing."
Streeter added that there is going to be competition at all of the top programs in the country and he is happy with the way his room has embraced that.
"Obviously we have some really good quarterbacks here, but there's a lot of good quarterbacks at all the places. You can look at Georgia, you're going to look at Auburn, there's really good quarterbacks everywhere you go," he said. "What I do is I encourage these guys that we're recruiting to don't focus on that. ... But focus on the more important things like who you're going to be around. What type of culture you're going to be around. These guys believe in that culture. ... Coach (Dabo) Swinney says it all the time but be who you are. Don't try to be somebody else. God has a plan for you and you just kind of put your head down and you go hard and you take one day at a time and be who you are and things will work out how they're supposed to be."
