Dabo Swinney Calls State of College Football 'Embarrassing' Ahead of LSU Season Opener

This past week has been an absolute blur in the college football world, with all the talk centered on LSU bringing back a string of former NFL players, including tight end Dae'Quan Wright, defensive tackle Zxavian Harris and edge rusher Jack Pyburn, thanks to recent court rulings and temporary restraining orders.

Wright, who played under Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss the past two seasons, went undrafted in April before signing with the Philadelphia Eagles as a UDFA. He was waived, picked up by the Cleveland Browns, then waived again, leading him to sign with LSU.

He's already practicing with the team, but the SEC has since passed a rule banning NFL players from returning to college, making Wright and others technically ineligible. However, it's still possible to violate it and take the severe penalties on the chin.

Harris' status with the program, on the other hand, is unclear beyond his commitment, and Pyburn, who was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs off waivers Monday, won't be heading back to college after all.

That said, it begs the question for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney: just how hard has this made the Tigers' preparation for LSU?

"Yeah, it's hard," Swinney said in his press conference Tuesday morning. "You spend all summer, I mean, looking at — you're watching Arizona State, uh, again to get a feel for this quarterback. You're watching Colorado to get a feel for this elite, elite left tackle they got. This is a dude. You're studying Wisconsin. You're studying Ole Miss.”

“You're looking at a lot of things to try to get a feel for personnel that you're going to play. Yeah, you know, been spending this last week or so studying the Browns and the Cowboys and the Saints and the Bucs. You know, trying to get ready."

Ironically, Swinney got to watch a Browns practice back in June, and he joked that he's going to get turned in for tampering, wishing now he'd paid a little more attention while he was there.

At the end of the day, though, the veteran coach simply sees another season opener in front of him, the same way he has for the previous 17 years.

"Yeah, it's crazy," he continued. "It's hard, you know. I mean, openers are hard, but again, when you got a lot of new people and you know, it's the same for them. We got a bunch of new people, too. But um, it's a crazy world we're living in."

Swinney was then asked whether the whole situation and LSU's shifting roster frustrated him heading into the game. He was quick to say no, making it clear that he's less bothered by teams and players taking advantage of the system than he is embarrassed by the system itself.

"No, it doesn't frustrate me," he began. "I mean, honestly, rarely am I at a loss for words, but Chapel, I'm at kind of a loss for words. I would just say it's kind of embarrassing. I mean, honestly, it's just embarrassing that that's where we are. And I don't blame the kids and people trying to take advantage of the system. I just think it's embarrassing where we are with College Football, and we've been there for a while."

Ahead of the contest this Saturday, Swinney is just trying to control the controllable and keep his main focus on the team and staff's preparation, even with obstacles in the way.

"I just keep my energy and my focus on the things that I control and the things that matter, and that's these kids here and our team," he said. "But all of that outside, we just kind of, no pun intended, we just stay in our lane, you know, here at Clemson — try to. Every now and then, somebody will ram into us, but we try to kind of just handle our business here."

Swinney closed out the rant the same way he started it, calling the state of college football embarrassing, with no real rules or governance left. He also pointed to the recent court rulings as proof of just how bad it's gotten.

"But it's embarrassing, I mean, it really is. We have no rules; there's no governance. I mean, it's a joke," he finished. "There's zero rules, and when you enforce rules, somebody just goes and finds a judge to say, 'No you can't enforce that rule.' Never did I think I'd be living in an era like this, but that's where we are. Hopefully, eventually, there'll be some different things coming down the pipe. But all I can tell you is we have great kids here. We have great kids, we have great people here, and we just kind of try to stay focused on Clemson."

Now, Swinney will look to keep his own team's heads in the game and stay focused on the thing that matters most heading into the season opener: Clemson Football.

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