Kelly Bryant – Noteworthy
It’s no fluke that Post-Dispatch baseball writer Derrick Goold was recently named a top 10 beat writer by the APSE. As always this time of year, Goold is down at spring training in Jupiter, Fla., owning the Cardinals beat with his indefatigable daily coverage, but when special guest Dabo Swinney arrived at the Cardinals complex on Sunday, Goold crossed over to the Mizzou beat and asked the Clemson football coach about his former quarterback who’s now a Missouri Tiger. Swinney made one thing clear Sunday: There are no hard feelings over Kelly Bryant leaving Clemson for Mizzou. He gushed about the quarterback who went 16-2 as his starter at Clemson in 2017-18 before the starting job went to Trevor Lawrence last fall.
“He’s a great person first of all,” Swinney told Goold and other reporters on the scene. “He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever been around. He is truly a wonderful kid. Very smart. Very good student. He obviously graduated early with us. Just a high-character young man who is a really, really good player. He can run. He led us to an ACC championship in his first year as a starter. Went 12-2 that year. He’s a hard worker, he’s a committed guy, he’s a guy who will be a great teammate. I’m happy for him. It was something that he really wanted to do. And it worked out. He’s in a good situation. He’ll do a great job. He’ll have a heck of a year.” Will Bryant’s personality mesh with the Tigers’ locker room? Swinney has no doubt. “Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Kelly is easy,” he said. “He’s not a guy that comes in with a lot of drama or some big ego or this or that. He’s got a sweet spirit to him. Nice kid. Really nice kid.” – Post-Dispatch