Jordan Travis shouts out Dabo for Clemson coach’s classy gesture after 2023 injury
Former Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis remembers sitting in his hospital bed in 2023 after emergency surgery on his left leg and getting a call from an unsaved number.
The caller ID read: “Maybe: Dabo Swinney.”
“I’m like, ‘No way,’” Travis said on a recent podcast.
But it was Swinney, Travis said. In a matter of hours, Clemson’s longtime football coach had tracked down Travis’ cellphone number and called him to wish him well after Travis suffered a gruesome left leg injury during Florida State’s second-to-last game of the 2023 regular season vs. North Alabama.
Travis, whose FSU team had beaten Clemson on the road in overtime earlier that year, reflected on the moment and praised Swinney during an episode of “Travis Take Two,” the sports podcast he co-hosts with his older brother Devon Travis.
“That guy is special,” Jordan Travis said. “He’s a great coach, but he’s a great person.”
Jordan Travis reveals hospital conversation with Dabo
Florida State was 10-0, the best team in the ACC and cruising toward a spot in the College Football Playoff before Travis’ injury in the first quarter of a home game against FCS North Alabama on Nov. 18, 2023. Travis was carted off the field in Tallahassee in an air cast and transferred to a local hospital after the injury.
He remembers the details of his call with Swinney vividly.
“I pick up the phone, and he’s like, ‘Hey man, I just wanted to call and let you know I’m praying for you,” Travis said. “And we sat on the phone and he said a prayer. It was a quick little call, but, I mean, he didn’t have my number. … He took initiative. To go out of his way to get my number, to call me, to say a prayer for me, it just speaks volumes to the man he is.”
FSU finished the regular season 12-0 and beat Louisville in the 2023 ACC championship game but was left out of the four-team College Football Playoff in favor of Alabama — with Travis’ injury playing a major role in the CFP selection committee’s decision.
Travis was drafted No. 171 overall in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. But he never played a down and medically retired from football in April 2025, saying his left leg “never responded the way we hoped.”
Swinney did not publicize his phone call to Travis after the FSU quarterback’s injury. A Florida State media member reported on the conversation in November 2023, but Travis had not discussed the moment publicly until his podcast last week.
Because of Swinney’s gesture, Travis said he will “never” say a bad word about Swinney even though he coaches at one of Florida State’s top ACC rivals.
Travis brought up the story of Swinney’s hospital call to him while discussing Clemson’s 1-2 start in 2025 and said he’s confident the Tigers will rebound.
“Dabo always get those guys going,” Travis said on his podcast.
