Feasters loss hurt, but Elliott understands

CLEMSON— The Clemson Tigers were dealt a blow to their running back room after their annual spring game, as senior Tavien Feaster announced that his time as a Clemson Tiger was over.

The departure of Feaster left a once full running back's room down to only two scholarship backs—Travis Etienne and Lyn-J Dixon. The Tigers did pick up some help with their numbers this summer, as freshmen Chez Mellusi and Michel Dukes enrolled.

"Obviously (the loss of Feaster) just means the young guys gotta be ready to go," co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Tony Elliott said. "I got to do a great job in preparing those guys and one, quickly assessing where they're at, figuring out the areas that I need to help them improve, so they can be ready to go, and then really just push them as hard as I can and then see how much they can retain and get them ready."

While the Tiger fans may be still be wondering why a player of Feaster's caliber would ever want to leave a program, for Elliott, he handled the process the right way and at the end of the day, he earned the right to leave.

"Obviously it was a big loss but with Tavien, you know he did what he was supposed to do here and I'm proud of him for stepping up and making the decision that he thought was best for him and his future," Elliott said. "Only thing for me is as long as he graduates, once he graduates he's fulfilled his commitment to me, his commitment to Clemson and we wish him the best going forward."

While Feaster fulfilled his commitment to Elliott and Clemson, the timing of his decision did surprise Elliott.

Feaster went through spring practice with the Tigers and by all accounts had a one of his best springs—on the field and as a leader. Feaster even went through exit interviews with the coaching staff, but ultimately he was not at peace with his decision to remain a Tiger.

"I think the timing caught me off guard a little bit, because he had a great spring," Elliott said. "Tavien had a great spring and really we had already talked about what we were going to do going forward, Kind of the plan for next season for him. Just in his quiet time he was searching for peace with where he was at, so the biggest thing for me was just the timing of it. I'm not necessarily surprised because he's a competitor, he wants to be the guy he wants to get as much opportunity as he can and he just felt like he needed to go somewhere else to do that."

Even though he is no longer a member of the Tiger football team for the 2019 season, Elliott still remains in-touch with his former prize recruit, not to help him decide where to finish his career, but because he is one of his guys.

"I have, and you know we haven't talked anything about recruiting, about where he's going because again that's a decision for him and his family," Elliott said. "The biggest thing for me is just making sure that he stays on track to graduate and make sure that he's working out, make sure that he's prepared for wherever he goes, that he's in a position to go compete cause that was the intention of him moving on is he wanted to go put himself in a situation he thought was best for them in his future. I'm just trying to support him through that process and even beyond that process will continue to stay in touch because he's one of my guys."

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