SUSPENDED CLEMSON TIGHT END RETURNS
Braden Galloway, one of three Clemson players suspended by the NCAA before last year's College Football Playoff, is set to make his season debut for the third-ranked Tigers against No. 2 Ohio State in today's Fiesta Bowl.
Galloway, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and offensive tackle Zach Giella tested positive for ostarine, a supplement banned by the NCAA that can aid muscle growth. The suspension was for a calendar year.
All three players have said they did not know how the substance showed up in their tests and they did not intentionally take anything. Clemson investigated and said it never found the source of the supplement.
Lawrence skipped his last year of eligibility and became a first-round NFL Draft pick. Giella left the program. Galloway, a sophomore from South Carolina, spent most of this season working with the Clemson scout team.
“It was just about having the right mindset, knowing I can't be there Saturdays. There were was some tough days,” Galloway said. “You just try to find something you can get better at every day.”
Galloway said he has done several Ncaa-required drug tests since last year and had some done on his own to make sure he stayed clean.
Galloway had five catches and touchdown last season as a freshman and was expected to be a big contributor at tight end this season. The suspension would have followed him had he decided to leave Clemson, but he said he never considered transferring.
Mixed emotions
Come tonight in Arizona, Kirk Herbstreit will look to one sideline and see his school colors. He'll look to the other sideline and see his twin sons.
And then he'll put those images in the back of his mind and do his job for ESPN.
“You guys have a job to do,” Herbstreit told reporters Friday, “and it's no different from me. When the ball's in the air, I'm not talented enough to be thinking about Ohio State and my kids. It takes every ounce of energy I have to analyze the game.”
Herbstreit started at quarterback for Ohio State in 1992. Sons Jake and Tye were born in Ohio, but the family moved to Nashville, Tenn., in 2011.
The boys played well enough at a Clemson summer camp to merit preferred walkon offers from coach Dabo Swinney. And the freshmen have impressed the coaching staff enough to appear in four games this season, mostly on special teams, while retaining a redshirt season.
Tye is a 5-foot-10, 165pound receiver. Jake is a 5-11, 170-pound cornerback/receiver.
“I'm so proud of them just for where they are,” Herbstreit said. “They very easily could have gone to a smaller school, but growing up in my family, they traveled with me all the time. They'd go to these kinds of games. So when they decided to do a preferred walk-on (route), they decided to go to a place like Clemson. Of course I applauded them.”
Sooners as dogs
No team in the College Football Playoff has claimed more national Oklahoma.
History, though, doesn't carry much weight in this year's field.
The Sooners are the clear outsider next to the other three teams, which are all unbeaten. Oklahoma had to overcome a shocking loss to Kansas State and get a lot of help just to nab the last spot in the four-team field.
The Sooners are a whopping 131⁄2-point underdog heading into today's Peach Bowl semifinal against LSU, one of the widest betting lines in CFP history.
And, yes, that stings a bit. “It's crazy, man, how they're dogging and looking over us like this,” cornerback Parnell Motley said. “It is so disrespectful, like we're not a national contender team.
“They kind of just forget us,” Motley said. “It's going to inspire us. We're going to sit in this corner over here and just work on ourselves and do our job. Y'all don't need to worry about us. Just know,” he added, pausing to parse his words, “well, I don't want to talk too much, but we're coming.” titles than