Length of Galloway’s, Giella’s suspensions still in question
By: will-vandervort May 24, 2019

Now that the Clemson Football program knows tight end Braden Galloway’s and offensive lineman Zach Giella’s appeals have been denied, what does it mean for their eligibility in 2019?

On Friday, Robert M. Ariail, the attorney for both players, announced the appeals on the penalties imposed on Galloway and Giella to the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports have been denied, and both student-athletes will be ineligible for the 2019 football season. The imposed sanctions were the result of a trace amount of Ostarine being detected in both students’ December 2018 NCAA drug tests.

But does the ruling mean the two student-athletes are suspended for a bowl game and/or the College Football Playoff as well this coming season? As you recall, both players were suspended from the College Football Playoff’s Cotton Bowl in December of 2018 and the CFP National Championship Game in January of 2019.

According to the NCAA, the penalty for a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug (PED) is strict and automatic. Student-athletes lose one full year of eligibility for the first offense (25 percent of their total eligibility) and are withheld from competition for 365 days from the date of the test. A second positive test for a PED results in the loss of all remaining eligibility.

In other words, did the clock start on the suspensions the day the tests were administered in early December or from the day the B test result came back or the first day of competition, which would be the Cotton Bowl?

Due to some confusion in the wording of what it implies, The Clemson Insider checked with the Clemson Athletic Department to make sure what the ruling exactly means for Galloway and Giella.

An athletic spokesman told TCI Clemson’s Compliance Department is already in touch with the NCAA to get an exact meaning of the ruling and when the players can return to the playing field.

Clemson understands both players will be forced to sit out the entire 2019 regular season, plus the ACC Championship, should the Tigers advance to the conference’s title game. As for the bowl game and/or the College Football Playoff, compliance is double checking before they give out any official word.

Clemson did confirm that Galloway and Giella can work out and practice with the team, as well as participate in team activities during the suspensions.