Clemson football: Dabo Swinney comments on ongoing Deshaun Watson investigation

Dabo Swinney, Clemson Tigers. (USA Today)
Dabo Swinney, Clemson Tigers. (USA Today) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney comments on Deshaun Watson’s investigation.

When asked about his former quarterback Deshaun Watson’s ongoing legal investigation, Clemson football head Dabo Swinney responded as you would expect him to.

“We were disappointed to see his name in the news and all that’s going on,” said Swinney. “I love Deshaun. He’s like a son to me. That’s how I love him. The legal stuff, that will all take its course. I can’t speculate or comment on that stuff.”

“All I can tell you is I’ve known Deshaun since the ninth grade, and he’s been nothing but exemplary in every area I’ve known him in. In three years here as a player, I had a chance to yell at him one time — for being five minutes late to a team meeting when he overslept.”

“That’s it. That’s the Deshaun I know. I can only base my thoughts on my experiences with him, which has been just wonderful. I love him like a son. We’ll just have to see where everything goes from there.”

While Swinney has earned himself a reputation for not always saying the right thing at the podium to the college football media, this is exactly how we would have expected him to respond to this hard question he knew he would have to answer at some point. He can’t say, “no comment”, but that will make the best player in his program’s history look even worse. Still, this is a lot to digest.

https://twitter.com/ADavidHaleJoint/status/1374140568176099330

Dabo Swinney may love him, but Deshaun Watson is in a world of trouble

Though Swinney has the right to base his judgment of Watson based entirely on his experiences at Clemson University, as well as the recruiting process out of his native Gainesville, Georgia, the number of lawsuits the Houston Texans quarterback is facing are growing by the day.

Regardless of any of these impending lawsuits go from civil to criminal, Watson will still be held accountable to the NFL‘s personal conduct policy. The NFL previously suspended Ben Roethlisberger and Ezekiel Elliott for such reasons.

So it may not be a question of if he will miss games for the 2021 Texans, it is how many he will miss. The subject of trade rumors all offseason, now those are secondary to these serious allegations.

dark. Next. College football power rankings: Top 30 programs of all-time

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.