After MLB Draft, Tigers win the lottery but not the Powerball

Will Taylor will play quarterback at Clemson this fall.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Jul 13 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2021

Winning the lottery isn’t so bad.

I was communicating with a friend at Clemson during the first round of Sunday night’s Major League Baseball Draft, and they told me that keeping one of the two players who were in line to be picked – Bubba Chandler and Will Taylor – would be like winning the lottery. Keeping both would be like winning the lottery and then finding out you hit the Powerball as well.

Well, winning the lottery is still pretty good if you were thinking you might not win anything.

Both Taylor and Chandler were highly thought of heading into the draft, and there were some mock drafts that had both players being picked in the first 25 picks. Of course, both Chandler and Taylor had signed on to play both baseball and football at Clemson, and considering the lack of depth in the Tigers’ quarterback room, keeping at least one of them was almost a must.

I was told that both players had given teams a certain price that needed to be met, and as the picks dropped off the board, we didn’t hear their names called. With the first round complete, I wondered if the Tigers had gotten lucky and would win both the lottery and the Powerball.

I woke up Tuesday looking for that best outcome, but a series of texts with a baseball scout friend of mine left me feeling like Chandler would be the one to leave while Taylor stayed. That turned out to be true, with Chandler picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round. A quick text told me all I needed to know. “He’s gone,” it said.

That left Taylor, and it wasn’t long before I received confirmation that Taylor had decided to stay at Clemson and forge out a college career. He now can’t be picked in the draft until after his junior season in 2024.

So what does Taylor’s decision mean for the Tigers? It’s really good news for football coach Dabo Swinney and might be even better news for baseball coach Monte Lee.

We will start with football. Last year, Taylor led Dutch Fork to the 2020 5A state title with a 28-6 win over T.L. Hanna. In 10 games in 2020, completed 136-of-203 passes for 2,237 yards and 21 touchdowns against just four interceptions. He had 60 carries for 448 yards and 11 touchdowns, a 7.5-yard rushing average. In one game against River Bluff, Taylor completed 22-of-35 for 334 yards and four scores. In the season opener against White Knoll, he completed 14-of-21 passes for 307 yards and five touchdowns, and against Carolina Forest he had 12 carries for 224 rushing yards and scored five touchdowns.

Swinney has seen Taylor play both wide receiver and quarterback in camp.

"He's a winner, No. 1. High-character kid. Goes back to a couple of years ago in camp. He was working QB,” Swinney said. “He's not quite as big as you'd like in a quarterback. But I really wanted to see him as a receiver, so I put him at wideout in camp and wanted to see how natural it was. It took about two minutes. First of all, he can fly. His acceleration makes him special. His lateral quickness and vertical acceleration. And he's got natural ball skills. Very confident kid.

"The big thing for me watching him was realizing he could legitimately play QB for us. In this world we're in now, in the transfer portal era, I've had Will in my mind for a while. We are going to train him as a QB in the first year, but move him to wideout. I think he has a chance to be elite at receiver. But he will have the foundation of being a quarterback in place."

Clemson will be without the services of backup Taisun Phommachanh (Achilles tear) this fall, leaving Hunter Helms as the only experienced backup to starter DJ Uiagalelei. The hope was that Chandler and Taylor would both add depth, along with walk-on Billy Wiles. Taylor now takes on an even bigger role.

In baseball, Lee gets a guy who will hit at the top of the order immediately. This spring he batted .450 with seven home runs, 33 RBIs and 34 runs scored as an outfielder on a Dutch Fork team that made an appearance in the Class 5A district championship. He added 21 stolen bases while boasting a .586 on-base percentage. He will play center field.

For a team that is looking to rebound from 2021’s losing season, having a player of Taylor’s caliber – both offensively and defensively – can’t be understated. Taylor is not the biggest guy in the world, but he has quick hands which he uses to get to the baseball with incredible bat speed. He also has the foot speed to be a 20-steal guy atop the order, and he’s a plus defender with great instincts.