Dabo Swinney talks Clemson’s top priority for bye week

Clemson rebounded from its only loss during the 2016 season to win its final five games, including the national championship.

Tigers coach Dabo Swinney is hopeful that this year’s team will respond in a similar manner and earn a third consecutive College Football Playoff berth.

That process for Clemson begins this week as the Tigers have a bye before hosting Georgia Tech on Oct. 28. Swinney is anxious to find out how his team will bounce back from its first defeat since last November.

“Whether or not they’ll respond (like 2016), finish that way, I don’t know. We’re going to find out. I know that,” Swinney said. “There’s certainly a lot of opportunity for this football team this year, this journey. We’ll see what we’re made of. That’s why you play all 12 of them. At the end of the year, you kind of see who’s what. Right now, we’re just a team that’s 6-1, trying to get to 7-1.”

The first step for Clemson is to get healthy. The Tigers had several players leave Friday’s game at Syracuse with an injury, including quarterback Kelly Bryant.

The junior entered the game with an ankle injury and left late in the second quarter with a concussion.

Schedule this week

Clemson players had Saturday and Sunday off before returning to the practice field on Monday.

The Tigers will take part in a community service project on Tuesday before returning to the practice field on Wednesday and Thursday.

Clemson players will get Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.

Injury report

Swinney said Bryant will return to practice Wednesday at the earliest.

“We’re going to be really cautious with him this week and really get him dialed in on what we’re doing game-plan wise,” Swinney said. “Come Wednesday, I think we’ll have a much better feel for what he’s going to do practice-wise.”

In addition to Bryant, cornerbacks A.J. Terrell and Mark Fields and running back Travis Etienne left the Syracuse game with an injury.

Swinney is hopeful the three will be ready to go after the bye week.

Fields has a sore spot in the arch of his foot, Terrell was injured but was going to try to practice on Monday, and Etienne tweaked his hamstring but Swinney believes he is OK.

“I’m thankful we’ve got an open date right now,” Swinney said. “We’ve got to get healthy first and foremost.”

This story was originally published October 16, 2017 at 8:52 PM with the headline "Dabo Swinney talks Clemson’s top priority for bye week."