Kelly Bryant misses second-straight Clemson practice

by TigerNet Staff - Tue Sep 25 19:58:03 GMT-05:00 2018

Senior quarterback Kelly Bryant did not practice for the second day in a row, a source confirmed to TigerNet.

Bryant was told in meetings with the coaching staff Sunday and Monday that freshman Trevor Lawrence was being moved into the starting role this week for Saturday's game with Syracuse (noon, ABC).

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday that he gave Bryant Monday’s practice off after an "emotional" meeting with the senior quarterback that same day.

It is unclear why Bryant missed practice again on Tuesday. Swinney is expected to address Bryant's status on the Wednesday morning ACC coaches teleconference.

“It was a rough afternoon,” Swinney said of the Monday meeting with Bryant. “We don’t get them here till 4 o’clock. I met with him yesterday afternoon. Streeter had already met with him on Sunday and talked through it. I texted him and said, 'Hey let’s sit down Monday.' We met yesterday afternoon and it was emotional. It was tough, tough because he has played well. There is not a guy that ever been here as long as I have been at Clemson that is more committed to this program than Kelly Bryant.

“There is not a better leader. This guy is the epitome of what you want. He is what you want your son to be like.

I love him like a son. So it is a very difficult conversation. He’s very disappointed, but I don’t have any doubt he will show up and go back to work and respond. It was tough.”

Bryant has the option to transfer to any school and have a year of eligibility left if he doesn't play another snap this season. Swinney said he discussed the subject with Bryant on Monday, but at the time did not see any indications that Bryant was planning to go that route.

"We talked about a lot of things," Swinney said. "I’m not going to get into the details of our conversation. We talked about a lot of things. Like I said it was emotional. A lot of things we talked about. If I was worried about that or I was deceitful in some way or something like that. I could have huddle the coaches and said hey let’s make sure we start him for Syracuse that way he has got no options.

"That’s not how I operate. I don’t think like that. I don’t operate that way. I’m just trying to do what’s right. I’m not ever doing to apologize for that. We talked about lots of things. It was a deep, long, emotional conversation. It was something we needed to talk through and go from there.

"If he walked in here today and said, 'Hey, coach I don’t want to play the rest of the year unless you got to have me.' 'Well, OK if that is what you want to do.' I love Kelly. I would be disappointed in that because we need him, but I wouldn’t judge him on that."

Tuesday was Bryant's birthday.