Following 24th-ranked Clemson’s 16-7 win over South Carolina on Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium, head coach Dabo Swinney delivered the game ball to a well-deserving person — Pat Richards, the Tigers’ Director of Football Athletic Training.
“It was a crazy week for us. I gave the game ball to Pat Richards, our trainer… because we had very few guys practice this week,” Swinney said. “We had so many guys that didn’t practice all week.”
One of the players who didn’t practice for much of the week is Will Shipley, with Swinney saying the star running back didn’t practice until Thursday.
Swinney also revealed that the Tigers “had a big run of the flu go through the team.”
“I think we had 12 guys on IVs after breakfast this morning. We looked like a dadgum mash unit in there, just trying to get them to the game,” Swinney said. “We had coaches out. Broken hands, broken thumbs, bad feet. It was just wild, and I’m just really proud of the staff and our players for just finding a way to get it done. It was just a great, great response by all these guys tonight.”
Swinney elaborated on the flu that swept through the team, saying the Tigers got “bad news every day” as far as people being sick.
“Somebody got sick and then another guy got sick, another guy… I tried to avoid Pat Richards. When I saw him coming, I’d just go the other way,” Swinney said.
“It was bad news every day. Every single day we’ve had bad news since last week. It’s crazy. I mean, we’ve had staff out. (Backup quarterback) Hunter Helms didn’t practice… I saw him Monday. I made him captain on Monday. I did not see him again until today. We had to have separate vehicles come down here, sick vans. I mean, (defensive tackles coach) Nick Eason was out sick. (Offensive line coach) Thomas Austin out, he’s in there getting an IV. I mean, it was crazy… So, it was a wild week. Bad news every single day.”
Despite all the illness, Clemson (8-4) found a way to win its fourth straight game and will now await its bowl destination after closing out the regular season by beating South Carolina (5-7) for the eighth time in their last nine games.
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