Clemson QB Kelly Bryant to transfer
Following up the trend from Monday of true seniors redshirting after 4 games and transferring, Clemson QB Kelly Bryant just announced he's redshirting and transferring out of the program.
Bryant started the first 4 games this year but split time with true freshman Trevor Lawrence each game. Lawrence outplayed Bryant statistically and was announced to be the started for the upcoming game earlier this week. This is a big blow to Clemson as Bryant probably would have played moving forward in the same split-time system and now Clemson only has one other scholarship QB on roster.
Bryant will probably be the hottest transfer commodity out there. He started for Clemson all last year as they made the playoffs and he will be immediately eligible next year.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
While that may be true, how do we know that Bryant won’t graduate from Clemson this year? And then work on a grad degree next year?
Overall, I agree with your point. This move is almost certainly 100% football driven. But these players can also have the best of both worlds. Come out after 5 years with 1-2 degrees, take your shot at the NFL, and then start your career when you can’t play anymore.
I also think we should be paying players, so they get even more of a leg up on post football life.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^
Bryant is a senior and has already graduated from Clemson.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:19 AM ^
I always wonder about the playing time thing with recruits. I get why Shane Morris wanted to be the only recruit for Michigan. He would have been better off going to CMU as a freshman and playing for four years.
The big advantage of going to an Alabama, Clemson, or Harbaugh-led Michigan is that you know the coach is going to be there. If your coach is good at CMU he's only going to be there 2-3 years. I'd list Urban in the consistent coaches, but you never know when his Circle of Trust will implode.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:46 AM ^
Schefter just tweeted Oakland is still in play. Per sources.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:41 AM ^
The millionaire coaches can leave freely.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:43 AM ^
Agreed. Also these athletes should be paid.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:38 AM ^
Coaches usually cannot leave "freely." There are contract guarantees and restrictions that make it costly to leave before the contracts expire. Also, it's okay if we pay the athletes, as long as those athletes then pay their own tuition, room and board, books, etc, like other students working their way through school.
September 26th, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
Coaches agree to those restrictions. And virtually every time they leave, it's for a better opportunity. Coaches who are hired away almost never pay their buyout from their own pocket, so yes, they can more or less leave "freely."
Regarding paying athletes, I'm sure Rashan Gary would be happy to pay the cost of attendance at Michigan ($62,176 for out-of-state students this year) if we paid him his free-market value.
September 26th, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^
Maybe...but exactly how much revenue do you think Rashan Gary has brought to the program? And in what ways? Not being snarky, I'm asking seriously.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:00 PM ^
Who's to say he isn't being paid his free-market value? Despite the huge supply of athletes supposedly not being paid "what they're worth", the market has utterly failed to come up with an alternative for them. If they were underpaid, 1) there would not be a massive surplus of players willing to take that compensation, and 2) someone would decide he could make more money by offering more compensation, and would proceed to do so. Logically and economically speaking, a huge labor surplus means the compensation is too high, not too low; underpaying employees leads them to seek other alternatives, leading to a shortage of them.
September 26th, 2018 at 12:01 PM ^
These athletes have more pocket money than average students. They have access to better food, better medical, and they get food stipends. These "unpaid" athletes are paid about $5,000.00 per school year for food, which is funny because they are fed for free.
Free education
Free medical treatment
Free food
Food stipend
But yeah, they are being taken advantage of. Give me a break.
September 26th, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
Do you play on saturday? Wake up at 5 workout then study then work out then go get hit day in and day out? Give me a break. Don't be jealous. They are performing for your entertainment (and yes to get to NFL but majority don't). Give you a break? whatever.
September 26th, 2018 at 12:15 PM ^
The good thing about this argument is that every time it is discussed, everybody comes to see it the same way and there is complete harmony on the topic after that.
/s
September 26th, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
I have not jealousy. I just think they are compensated properly. They know what they are getting into. If they don't want to do it, then they can do something else.
September 26th, 2018 at 1:11 PM ^
This time next year, Rashan Gary will be playing under a contract that will likely guarantee him between $15 million and $30 million.
This year, he's playing for the value of tuition (about $60K), medical treatment ($5-6K for good insurance on the open market), food ($10K even if you have expensive tastes), and apparel (let's say $1K). Let's call the total package $100K, to be generous and make the math easy.
So either Rashan Gary is about to get 150-300x more valuable over the next year, or he's being severely underpaid this year. Which is it?
September 26th, 2018 at 3:18 PM ^
False choice. Another possible option is he'll be severely overpaid next year.
The closest answer is that he'll get a lot more valuable. U-M's AD revenue is about $182 million and they have probably about a thousand athletes. The median NFL team revenue is about $413 million and they have 53 athletes plus practice squadders.
You've also forgotten to quantify the job training he's receiving, without which he will never, ever have a $15-$30 million contract.
September 26th, 2018 at 3:20 PM ^
What was Jordan Kovacs market value for playing football? How about Devin Gardner? Drew Henson in football?
That said, I do think they should get health insurance for life. It isn't worth it if you end up like Erik Kramer.
September 26th, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
110,000 people pay an average of close to $100/ticket every weekend to see these guys play, and Michigan gets over $30 million per year in TV rights. But the players get medical treatment (for their injuries incurred while playing) and a food stipend - let's call it even, huh?
September 26th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
Consider me shocked that Bando, one of the worst posters on this board, has this terrible of a take...... /s. Very ON BRAND!
September 26th, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
What's your problem, man? Seriously. What did I ever do that you've basically internalized a weird vendetta? Take a chill pill.
September 26th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
My problem is you, acting like the preeminent authority on everything, all the time. You’re basically the, “Well, actually!” Guy around here and I’ve had it. Don’t tell me to take a chill pill, or take a lap. You’re no authority around here.
It isn’t internalized, I’ve been very vocal about my dislike for your particular brand of posting. Speaking of when it started, I suppose it started around the time you decided you were smarter than everyone else. When was that?
September 26th, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
I’ll disagree with you, but try to maybe make a conversation out of it...
I enjoy this because it’s a chance for schools that have a hard time recruiting touted HS recruits that all think they’re headed to the NFL, or a program that is just missing a piece.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^
Let me be the first to say it. No...just...no. We have our QBs
September 26th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
Agree totally. We have our QBs. Swinney might have made an error here.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:46 AM ^
So let’s just say Shea is 1 and done, and BP transfers. That would leave us with who? DCaff, Joe Milton, and Cade? So if DCaff got injured (god forbid) we’d be down to Joe and Cade. You could never have too much depth at QB. Hell we saw that last year when our only option was JOK. I’d take Kelly Bryant or Jalen Hurts in a heart beat.
September 26th, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^
They're not transferring here to sit. If you take anyone like that then you get Milton/DCaff transferring. If everyone is playing musical chair there is no building depth with that much talent.
September 26th, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
Yeah, but he’s not even remotely thinking Michigan. Most likely Bryant will head somewhere he’s got a clear path to starting next season.
September 26th, 2018 at 1:44 PM ^
How far we've come at QB since last year that it took this long on the thread for the possibility of him coming to Michigan was even mentioned. . . And even then in the negative!
September 26th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
Personally I don’t think Michigan is even on his radar, it was a hypothetical statement. My point was that you can have enough depth at QB. I like Shea a lot don’t get me wrong, he’s a stud. But personally, I’m very excited for DCaff to take over after Shea. He looks like an absolute beast.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^
This is a big blow to Clemson as Bryant probably would have played moving forward in the same split-time system
They named Lawrence the starter a couple of days ago. They're no longer going with the split time, 2 QB system anymore.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^
He was named the starter but the expectation from Clemson fans was this system would continue for a bit until someone pulls away completely. For the next few games at least they expected Bryant to still play.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
They expected him to still play, but in a supplementary role/clearly behind Lawrence.
He's basically becoming the Nick Sheridan to Lawrence's Threet (completely ignore the actual ability difference in that analogy) in that Sheridan came in when Threet was terrible/hurt but it was always Threet who was going to be the starter.
Or, think of it as the Brady v Henson situation where Henson actually supplanted Brady instead of Brady holding Henson off.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:54 AM ^
Agreed he would have been second fiddle to Lawrence, hence the transfer. He still would have played and technically had the chance to win his job back. Emphasis on "technically", so I'm all for the transfer.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:56 AM ^
Yeah, agree with you there.
September 26th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
Nobody's winning the job back from Lawrence. Bryant probably realizes how good the freshman is.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:56 AM ^
Nick Sheridan against Minnesota or against everybody else?
September 26th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
Then LLLLloyd Carr woke up and figured out he made a mistake and put Brady back for good. Cost himself a 2nd NC because he was afraid of Steinbrenner's $$$.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:19 AM ^
If you're a senior and you're splitting snaps with a true freshman QB who has looked as good or better than you through four games, and then that freshman was just named the starter over you, you're not going to be in a position to be splitting snaps for much longer. Bryant was smart enough to see that, and bounced to save one last season of football where he could potentially be "the guy" and play full time.
September 26th, 2018 at 12:01 PM ^
....but I don't understand why leave the team now? Can't he grad transfer next year anyway so why leave the team, and all practice reps, or is he out of eligibility??
September 26th, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
True senior so yes he would be out of eligibility without redshirting this season.
September 26th, 2018 at 12:50 PM ^
Must be hard to deal with getting beaten out by Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
This was such an underrated film, such a great cast.....
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September 26th, 2018 at 2:42 PM ^
He's already played three seasons and was starting to play his fourth. Under the old NCAA rule, this would have counted as a year of eligibility and he would have exhausted his four years allotted. But...thanks to the new rule passed over the summer, even though he's played in four games, as long as he doesn't play any part of a fifth game, he can sit out the rest of the year and retain a year of eligibility.
And since he's already graduated, he can transfer to a new school and be eligible to play immediately.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^
It's a blow, but not for the reason the OP stated. Clemson has no QB depth now, and it is counting on a true freshman QB to lead a playoff contender for the rest of the season. If Lawrence gets hurt or regresses, it could mean trouble for Clemson.
The part I don't understand is why Bryant couldn't stay at Clemson under the agreement with Dabo that he would not play the rest of the season to preserve his redshirt unless an emergency like Lawrence having a season-ending injury. Bryant has (or will) graduate so there is no benefit to transferring or quitting the team now. I'm sure it is blow to him to lose his job as a senior after leading the team to the CFP last year so it may hurt to watch from the sidelines the rest of the year. But I think there would be a lot of potential and not much for him to lose to stick it out on the team for the rest of the year with the understanding he would not play unless needed.
September 26th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
The depth part is also mentioned in the OP....
September 26th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
Yeah, the depth part of it is the bigger concern for them. Similar to the Nebraska situation. If Lawrence goes down they got to a former 3 star I've never heard of and the whole thing probably goes off the rails.
With that DL though, they don't need a monster offense.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
Stick it out? The kid waited his turn to play after Watson was the man and led the team to two playoff berths and a championship. It's like Jalen Hurts getting the boot and he has chosen to stick it out at Alabama. But the difference is, Tua won the championship game last year and Saban called Hurts transfer bluff, knowing he can essentially get whomever he wants to play there.
And that would include Bryant if he decides to consider that route where he would face additional competition.
I suspect that Bryant will likely consider another ACC or SEC school.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
Yes, you can still stick it out, preserve your redshirt and transfer. It is possible to do both. Kelly Bryant is not going to be able to play or enroll at another school this semester. It may be helpful to stay with the team, workout and compete in practice, serve as an emergency QB and preserve your redshirt. It is a hit to the ego, but it may be beneficial to him in the long run.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^
I would think Bryant would still be at Clemson. It doesn't make sense to transfer during a semester. If there was an emergency he could be asked to rejoin the team.
Keeping him on the team in the meantime seems like a bad idea. There's a lot of potential for conflict.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
Never mind.