The latest on Kelly Bryant, Clemson’s QB situation

Clemson starting quarterback Kelly Bryant did not meet with the media for his weekly availability on Monday after injuring his ankle in the third quarter of Saturday’s win against Wake Forest.

Dabo Swinney said during his Sunday teleconference that a decision will be made later this week on Bryant’s availability.

Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott provided no further injury details on Monday.

“Obviously, going to let coach Swinney be the one voice this week talking about his update and where he is,” Scott said.

Scott did add that Clemson feels comfortable with its quarterbacks, even if Zerrick Cooper or Hunter Johnson are forced to start in place of Bryant.

“We feel really good about our depth at quarterback. Whether Kelly’s able to play this week or not, there’s going to be times throughout the season where he may not be available,” Scott said. “So number one, we as a coaching staff and as an offense, have a lot of confidence in those other guys because of what they’ve done in practice.”

Johnson translated his success in practice to the field against the Demon Deacons, going 5-for-5 passing and tossing a touchdown.

Cooper finished 2-for-6, but two of the four incompletions were drops.

Unlike some years in the past, Scott said the Tigers are fully confident in their backup quarterbacks.

“Obviously you want your starter in there if he can be in there, but we’ve definitely had other situations in the past where if our starting quarterback was out, it’d be a pretty drastic drop-off. We really like the depth we have behind Kelly,” Scott said. “To be honest the prep and practice is not much different this week than it’s been in weeks past.”

TOUGH ON THIRD DOWN

Syracuse is No. 6 nationally in third-down defense, allowing opponents to convert less than 25 percent of the time.

Scott believes he knows why the Orange have been so good.

“Probably the most complex, next to Boston College, that we’ve played this year,” Scott said of the Syracuse defense. “They bring pressures and blitzes about 48 percent of the time, so they’re always going to have guys trying to get into the backfield… They do a great job on third down. I think a lot of it has to do with the multitude of pressures and blitzes and coverages that they run.”

BASKETBALL SCHOOL

Clemson defensive end Austin Bryant is looking forward to making another trip to the Carrier Dome.

The junior remembers going to Syracuse two years ago as a freshman and seeing the unique venue.

“Traditionally, Syracuse is known for their basketball,” Bryant said. “Actually, funny story, my freshman year we went up there, Jim Boeheim and the basketball team were practicing when we came in just to walk through the stadium that Friday. So it’s definitely a unique place to play a game. It gets loud in there, the Carrier Dome. So I think for a lot of guys on the team this will be a really fun, fun place to go play a football game.”

This story was originally published October 9, 2017 at 8:21 PM.