Clemson Spring Game 2016: Recap, Highlights and Twitter Reaction

It's been about three months since the Clemson Tigers fell short in the national championship game to the University of Alabama.   

On Saturday, Clemson fans got another opportunity to see their Tigers play before the 2016 season starts in their annual spring game.

The Orange team took down the White team 17-9 as quarterback Deshaun Watson reminded everyone he's one of the elite quarterbacks in the nation.

In the first quarter—the only one in which he took snaps for both teams—Watson went a combined 7-of-11 for 141 yards and two touchdowns for the Orange team as it hopped out to a 14-3 lead. 

The Post and Courier's Aaron Brenner broke down Watson's stats:

ESPN.com's Andrea Adelson already saw everything she needed from him:

ESPN.com's Jared Shanker was just happy to see Watson back out on the field:

Watson is going to have some big standards to live up to as he looks to follow up a 2015 season in which he threw for 4,104 yards and 35 touchdowns while rushing for an additional 1,105 yards. 

There is some competition to find Watson's main backup, though, between Nick Schuessler and Kelly Bryant.

Schuessler brought the White team within five points at 14-9 in the second quarter with its first touchdown of the game after starting 7-of-7 for 47 yards. 

Shakin The Southland liked what it saw from Schuessler:

But a missed extra point and field goal by Alex Spence held back the White team from gaining even more ground before halftime.

While Watson remains a constant, Clemson will have a new look on defense, as it is returning just four starters. 

It lost some big names in the process too, including defensive end Shaq Lawson, lineman Kevin Dodd and cornerback Mackensie Alexander. 

With the defense not allowed contact with the quarterbacks, the line could not fully be scouted, but the secondary looked decent with a pair of interceptions in the first half off of Bryant. 

Brenner once again showed the quarterback comparisons:

Bryant finished the day with a 9-of-17 mark for 128 yards.

One defensive player in particular who did have a solid outing on Saturday was linebacker Kendall Joseph, a redshirt freshman who recorded seven tackles on the day as he displayed his ability to diagnose plays and run down ball-carriers.

Clemson splits its team into three units called the White, Purple and Pride teams instead of labeling them the first, second and third units. 

In the second half, the younger players and those not expected to see much playing time next season, better known as the Pride team, took over to close out the game. 

Regardless of the result, this gave head coach Dabo Swinney a nice opportunity to see which players he could perhaps start to rely on moving toward the 2016 season. If the coach likes what he sees, especially on the defensive side of the ball, then Clemson will be just fine as long as Watson is under center. 

Post-Game Reaction

Over 50,000 fans showed up to watch Clemson's spring game and for head coach Dabo Swinney, that provided an invaluable experience for his young players via Brad Senkiw of the Independent Mail:

"

I want to thank our crowd. It was awesome. It just gives us an opportunity to help develop our team, because when you've got 50-plus thousand there, it creates a game day environment and you can't simulate that in practice.

"

As for the game, Swinney appeared to like what he saw, via Senkiw. 

"I thought it was competitive. There were some really good plays on both sides," Swinney said. "I thought we got out of it what we needed to."

Watson echoed those sentiments as he watched a majority of the game from the sidelines, via Senkiw: "We looked pretty good. A lot of guys made plays, but it's hard to tell when everyone is split up. We'll find out when the season comes around how good we can be."

Once Watson and Swinney get the entire team together, then Clemson fans will be able to get an even clearer picture of what the Tigers will look like in the fall.