Kelly Bryant says ACC gets a bad rap
By: will-vandervort July 15, 2019

Former Clemson quarterback, now Missouri QB, Kelly Bryant was asked by the Sports Talk Radio Network how he compares SEC Football to ACC Football, now that he is the SEC.

Bryant, who was in Birmingham, Alabama for SEC Media Days on Monday, says the ACC has great athletes too and is often overlooked by the media. Of course, Bryant was 16-2 as a starter at Clemson in 2017 and ’18, and led the Tigers to an ACC Championship in 2017 and to the College Football Playoff.

“I have not played a game (in the SEC), but you know you hear so much about the SEC, especially for me as a kid, the amounts of guys they put in in the league,” he said. “But at the same time, being that I played in the ACC, I feel there are some great athletes as well over there and some great ball that is being played that not a lot of people like to talk about, as well.

“They are two great conferences that put a lot of athletes out.”

Bryant was later asked if he thought Clemson could win another national championship this year.

“I am worried about Missouri right now,” he said. “I want to wish those guys the best (at Clemson), but at the same time I have to worry about the guys I am going to be playing next to each and every Saturday.”

Bryant did express sorrow for the sudden deaths of his former Clemson teammates C.J. Fuller and Tyshon Dye. Fuller passed away last October due to complications from knee surgery, while Dye died in an accidental drowning on July 5. Both played with Bryant during Clemson’s national championship season in 2016.

“I was actually still in South Carolina when (Fuller) passed so I actually got to go the funeral,” he said sadly. “Tyshon talked to me and Wayne Gallman. Me, him, Wayne and Shadell Bell were all in a group chat. We talked consistently, so we all have been uplifting each other and also some of my other Clemson brothers as well.

“It was very tough to lose two great guys in a very short amount of time between each other. As a family, we all had to lean on each other. Prayers out to the family and anyone else that had to go through all of that.”

Listen to the whole interview here: