CLEMSON – Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence may be adept at going long on the football field, but off the field?
Well, let’s just say he’s not much for extensive conversation.
Here’s how the conversation unfolded Sunday when coach Dabo Swinney informed Lawrence that he’d be the starting quarterback against Syracuse on Saturday.
Swinney: “You’re going to start this week.”
Lawrence: “OK, coach.”
Swinney: “You earned it.”
Lawrence: “OK, coach.”
Suffice to say that Swinney’s conversation with former starting quarterback Kelly Bryant Monday afternoon was considerably more drawn out.
“It was a deep, long, emotional conversation,” Swinney said. “We talked about lots of things, but I’m not going to get into the details of our conversation.”
Regardless of what was said, Swinney assured that it wasn’t easy, especially when discussing the future of a player who guided the Tigers to 16 victories in 18 games as a starting quarterback over the past two seasons.
“It was a bad day to be the head coach,” Swinney said. “Most days it’s good, but it was a rough afternoon because I love Kelly. I gave him the day off last night.
“As long as I’ve been here, there hasn’t been a guy more committed to the program than Kelly Bryant. He’s what you want your son to be like. I love him like a son. It was a very difficult conversation. He’s very disappointed, but I don’t have any doubt that he’ll show up and go back to work and respond.”
Or will he?
Since he’s only played in four games this season, Bryant could transfer with a year of eligibility remaining.
And we won’t know for sure for at least a few more days – both quarterbacks have been placed off limits to the media until after Saturday’s game.
“I just wanted to give them a break,” Swinney said. “These are kids, and I knew it was going to be an emotional couple of days, so it’s one less thing they’ve got to deal with this week.
“We probably make our players more available, I’m accessible. I let you guys talk to the coordinators. It’s not that way everywhere. That’s just my right. And I wanted to protect those two guys. They can handle themselves just fine, but it’s just one less thing that they have to deal with. They’ll be available after the game and we’ll move on.”
At this point, there’s no telling what Bryant will do.
“If he walked in here today and said, ‘Hey coach, I don’t want to play for the rest of the year unless you’ve got to have me,’ I’d say, ‘OK, if that’s what you want to do.’
“I would be disappointed in that because we need him, but I wouldn’t judge him for it.”
Swinney said Bryant did not indicate that he’d consider a transfer.
“No,” Swinney said. “We just talked. Talked about a lot of things. I have no doubt he’ll be right back here and ready to go, to get back on the horse and ride.”
For now, however, it’ll be Lawrence, the rangy freshman, who will saddle up first.
Lawrence has shown a knack for making big plays and that’s what Swinney and quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter based their decision on.
“Kelly’s done nothing wrong – he’s played well,” Swinney said. “Trevor just exceeded. After four games, based on productivity and the sheer data, he deserves to run out there first. We’re very fortunate to have two guys who can play. One of them is going to be hot; the chances of both of them being cold is probably not real good. We like where we are. I’m excited for Trevor. I think he’s earned it, and that’s really it. But we’re definitely going to continue to get No. 2 in there.”