Clemson freshman QB ready to roll

“We’ve had a very competitive situation here,” Swinney said. “He’s been the best guy. He’s been consistent all spring, all fall camp. He’s been a little more productive and a little more consistent. He’s earned the right to be the starter.”

Parker was 9-for-20 for 159 yards and two touchdowns against Middle Tennessee. His numbers might have been better if his receivers had not dropped four passes in the first half. He also rushed seven times for 25 yards, with carries of 18 and 16 yards.

“I got pretty comfortable in there,” Parker said. “After the first series, I settled in and got a feel for how fast the game was.”

Parker comes from a long-time fertile recruiting area for the Tigers — Jacksonville. At Bartram Trail High School, he passed for more than 2,500 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a senior. Rivals.com listed him as the No. 10 pro-style quarterback in the country and numerous big-time schools offered scholarships.

But Clemson offered Parker the opportunity to play football and baseball. Mississippi came in late with the offer to play both sports but Parker stayed with his commitment to the Tigers. He enrolled in January 2008 and became the first athlete in Clemson history to earn All-ACC honors in what should have been his last semester of high school.

That first season, he hit .303 with 14 home runs and 50 RBIs and made Baseball America’s freshman All-American team. But balancing baseball with spring football last spring, his average dropped to .255, though he still managed to hit 12 homers and drive in 52 runs.

“When I first got here, I really didn’t do any football in the spring,” Parker said. “It was baseball all the time. Last spring was pretty much my first real spring practice. I had to juggle. It was really tough.”

Parker calls the competition with Korn “intense.”

“Every day we came ready to compete and give our best,” Parker said. “We tried to beat each other out. It was good for the team that we were competing.”

Swinney believes Parker’s baseball experience helps him handle pressure on the football field.

“Kyle is an even-keel kid, ‘Steady Eddie’ all the time,” Swinney said. “He doesn’t get overwhelmed with anything. When you play baseball and step in the batter’s box and you have a guy throwing 90 at you, there’s nowhere to hide. ...

“Look at Kyle in the (NCAA tournament) regional game against Oklahoma State. He struggled a little bit then all of sudden he rips one down third base to send them to the Super Regional. To be able to come back shows what the kid is made of. He’ll do fine.”

Parker’s father, Carl, a former NFL receiver, spends a lot of time talking to his son about staying in control.

“When you play quarterback, you have to take a different route to the game,” Parker said. “You have to come in more composed. It’s more mental than anything. I have to believe all of this hard work and preparation is going to pay off. I’m going out there with faith in our players.”

Parker knows his main job is to execute and get the ball to Clemson’s two speedy game-breakers — running back C.J. Spiller and wide receiver Jacoby Ford.

“We know he can throw the ball,” Spiller said. “The main thing I’m looking for is decision-making in a game.”

Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele says he’s not a great judge of quarterback talent but he does recognize Parker is something special.

“You come in and watch tape sometimes and you run it back three, four, five, six times watching your guys and you see difficult throws and hard throws,” he said. “He’s got a live arm, he’s a play-maker and he gets the ball out of his hands.”

Parker isn’t going to put pressure on himself to put up numbers to maintain his starting position.

“I have expectations for myself and expectations for how I think I’m going to perform,” he said. “It’s not enjoyable to go out there and think I have to throw two TDs and not turn the ball over just to be the starter next week. I don’t think people are looking at it like that. I know the coaching staff isn’t.”