Clemson Tigers College Football Pregame Quote, 12/26/2018

What do you make of that culture now that Justin is transferring, Kelly [Bryant] has transferred? It’s kind of a tough question because everyone has their dreams and they want to play and be able to have a chance to play in the NFL and do all these things. So it’s definitely a lot of levels to that question.

But people try to make the best decisions for themselves. I’m not going through that right now so I can’t really speak on it. But I know it’s a tough decision, and these guys are doing what’s best for them

Does the waiting feel longer at quarterback? How do you describe that feeling? I mean, it’s just different because wide receiver, whatever position it is, they rotate guys a lot, four or five guys at a time. So it’s a little bit ‚Äì it’s just different. You might have one guy out there, and it’s hard to do all that stuff, and it’s also a lot more control of the offense. You have to have someone out there. The situation is a little different.

Clearly, during the spring, there were two or three guys competing for the job. And, obviously, fall practice you weren’t getting the most reps. How different has it been and how prepared were you when you got in? Now you finally are getting that, and what does it mean? I feel like our coaching staff and everyone did the best job playing both of us, letting us compete. But also whenever a decision was made, having coaches ready to make it. So just going through that since the spring, the way they did that prepared me well.

How much of a difference has the amount of reps that you get made? It makes a difference because obviously before me and Kelly [Bryant], we were going back and forth. Still obviously I was improving a lot. But I think when you get all the reps, obviously it’s going help improve when I get more with those guys.

Were those first couple weeks hectic for you after you got the word that you were starting? Not really. There was a lot of talk everywhere else but I feel like around our team we were pretty good. I mean, obviously Kelly [Bryant] leaving was tough and all the guys were close. So that was tough, and we had to get through that. But other than that, the teams were really supportive, and I felt like we just took off from there.

How do you get through something like that. Obviously in the locker room there were guys who were buddies with him and still friends with you. Obviously friendships and relationships how did you guys get through that? It’s just like anything else. It’s a team game. Yeah, everyone loved Kelly. I loved Kelly. But people on the team obviously still have their relationship with him. It didn’t really affect our relationships with him. We still have those and it’s just kind of rally together an keep going. Got half a season left.