Gentlemen, Your Thoughts and Opinions

[Mountainman]

........ on the current brouhaha about Dabo Swinney deciding not to give Kelly Bryant a National Championship Ring.

Here’s a little background, Kelly Bryant was the starting quarterback for Clemson for the first four games of last season and split reps with Trevor Lawrence at quarterback during the first four games.
After the fourth game Dabo decided to change starting quarterbacks and replaced Bryant with Trevor Lawrence. After being replaced, Bryant decided to transfer saying that if he stayed he would lose the remainder of his senior year. So, he transferred to a different school.
Lawrence, as we know, went on as quarterback of the Tigers leading to a National Title. When it came time to pass out the rings, Dabo says ‘No, ring for Bryant because he wasn’t on the team.’


The question is, did Dabo make the right call????

Your thoughts and opinions would be appreciated, as I’m stuck in the middle seeing both sides of the issue.

[Derek]

Yeah, he made the right call. He left the school and team. I don't have a lot of sympathy for people these days. Especially when young folks wanna cry about everything, so maybe I'm a little age biased here.

[donovan]

He is the coach, he gets to decide. Bigger issue with Clemson and Swinney than his ring issuing.

The player quit the team. So, no cake. Major League Baseball and World Series rings, decided by player vote has some really bad decision under their belt. E.g. traded players, injured...etc....

[Mountainman]

........does have a ring to it that sounds as if the kid wants things both ways, with an aroma of ‘self serving’.

Or as we say here in the Hills and Hollers, “He wants his cake and eat it too”.

[Cane from the Bend]

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Well, here's the part that the media tends to leave out of the conversation.

When Kelly Bryant decided to leave the team, the very next game [4 days later] Trevor Lawrence went out injured vs Syracuse. Instead of being a team player, staying with the program, and competing for the job, Bryant left the team with inexperience to fill the void.

This would have been a great opportunity for Bryant to come in, and prove what kind of a leader he could be. Instead, with his deciding to leave the program on the Tuesday before the Syracuse game, when Lawrence went out, Chase Brice was the guy who stepped in. A kid who had never taken a college snap.

That was the state Bryant left Clemson in.

He didn't want to be backup, and chose to find another team. If you're not a teammate, you're not a champion when the team wins the title without you.

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[Mountainman]

Oh my, didn’t know that........ my opinion is now looking somewhat like that Tower over in Pisa, as it’s getting a lean to it.

.......makes me wonder what else there may be about this that I don’t know.

[Cane from the Bend]

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I think Derek eluded to it best, when he said:

I don't have a lot of sympathy for people these days. Especially when young folks wanna cry about everything,

That is exactly right ... because in this scenario, the Championship Ring is a perfect Synonym for Participation Ribbon/Trophy.

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[Spence]

I think it is totally up to the head coach. If I were the coach and he left my program, even if it was the right thing for his future, I wouldn’t give him one. Why should the head coach reward him for leaving the program?

I don’t have a problem with the transfer rules, but the players can’t have it both ways. Their decisions have consequences for them and the teams.