Travis Etienne on Not Opting Out: 'It Was Easy'
If there were ever any doubts about how Travis Etienne feels about playing football this fall, the Tigers senior running back put them all to rest today.
While other high-profile players and entire conferences decided to opt-out rather than play a fall football season, the players at Clemson have formed a united front, choosing to push ahead and play the sport they grew up loving.
For Etienne, who decided to put off the NFL for another year in favor of playing his senior season in Clemson, it wasn't a difficult decision to make.
"For me, it was easy," Etienne said Friday after practice. "Just going back home and just seeing my nieces and my little brother, just them playing sports. Just seeing how pure the game was."
Over the summer, Etienne had some time to reflect. He started to think about why he started playing the game originally, and why he has grown to love it so much.
"Just the reason why we get into sports," Etienne said. "Remembering why I started playing football, and why I fell in love with the the game. Just getting back to that. Just seeing my brothers out there grinding. It just forced me to want to get better and grind with them and just, be the best player I can be."
Like his teammates, Etienne knows anything can happen and the situation regarding playing is fluid. However, that does not change the fact that as of today, he is fully committed to playing.
"Well I'm 100 percent opted in," Etienne said. "I mean I'm coming to practice every day. We're taking it one day at a time, it's all you can focus on right now. So every day we wake up, we're all in. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow we're done trying to figure out what's going to happen tomorrow. So every time we step on this field we're all in."
With so much uncertainty ahead in regards to actually pushing forward with a fall season, Etienne isn't concerning himself with the unknown, and has no regrets about deciding to return to Clemson.
"Oh no, I don't have any regrets, because it was my decision to come back," Etienne said. "I definitely came back in and got better on the field, off the field, mentally, physically, spiritually so is there's no way I could ever regret the decision coming back because I've learned so much more coming back.
"If this season doesn't happen, I'm still grateful that I came back. No looking back. Can't change it. So I just made the most out of it, whether we have a season or not."
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