Clemson HC Dabo Swinney Provides Update on Vic Burley's Game Status

The Clemson Tigers had to deal with an unfortunate situation with graduate senior Vic Burley back in August, who was arrested for disorderly conduct two weekends before the program kicked off its season.

Burley has been suspended indefinitely from the team until then, but after Clemson’s loss to LSU, head coach Dabo Swinney said that the defensive lineman would return ahead of ACC play.

While speaking to the media on Tuesday, he believed that Burley always had the potential to come back; it was about learning his lesson first.

“I mean, he deserved to come back,” Swinney said. “I mean, he was stupid, but I’m not going to kick him off for being stupid and being just a dumb, dumb decision on his part.”

Burley was expected to be a starter on the interior of Clemson’s defensive line this season before the incident happened, flashing throughout the spring to fill in for the likes of Peter Woods and DeMonte Capehart at defensive tackle. However, it wasn’t just the actions on the field that had Swinney decide to bring him back to Clemson to finish out the season.

The Warner Robins, Georgia, native was working on bigger things, which he was doing in the classroom.

“He’s working on his MBA, he’s already got his degree,” Swinney said. “He’s about to get an MBA from Clemson. Vic, I mean, he took ownership of it, and we held him accountable.”

Clemson’s head coach has stressed multiple times about the standards that he has for his program, saying previously that nothing will slide, especially off the field. So, Burley had to earn his way back to the roster over the last several weeks. He isn’t even featured on the Tigers’ depth chart entering their ACC opening game against North Carolina.

“A lot of places would have just said keep playing, but we’ve got some standards around here that we believe in, and I felt like he needed a wake-up call,” Swinney said, “and he’s got some other things too that he’s had to deal with off the field that have been hard on him.”

However, not only did he write Swinney a personal letter about the situation, but he wrote one to the team as a whole. Now, Clemson is looking to see how he responds after his senior year began off track.

“He’s got a lot going on, so we're just trying to help him through it, and we’ll see where he is and how he does, but he handled it,” Swinney said. “He took ownership of it.”

It’s uncertain whether Burley will play on Saturday to begin his fourth season with the program, but Swinney said that he will continue to be integrated into the defense as the year goes on. Coming into the year with 15 total tackles, half a tackle for loss and a pass breakup, he brings experience to aid a Clemson defensive line that has struggled to begin the season.

But he will bring an impact to it in due time.

“He didn’t run away from it, and it cost him some money, too. It’s pretty big consequences when you get suspended, so he paid the price,” Swinney said. “He’s more than probably most, so he’s back, and hopefully we can get him going.”

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