Talk of possible Kelly Bryant transfer to Miami stirring negative feedback from Canes
The evidence was glaring.
On Monday night, Miami true freshman running back Lorenzo Lingard posted on Twitter a message clearly defending the Hurricanes’ young quarterbacks in light of news that Clemson graduate transfer quarterback Kelly Bryant will officially visit Coral Gables the weekend of the Pittsburgh game (Nov. 24) as he weighs his transfer options.
Bryant reportedly will announce his decision Dec. 4.
Should Bryant choose Miami over his other possibilities of Arkansas, Auburn, Missouri, Mississippi State and North Carolina, that would obviously affect the situations of UM redshirt freshman quarterbacks N’Kosi Perry (the current starter) and Cade Weldon, and true freshman Jarren Williams.
Lingard’s tweet included the original story from Rivals. com that reported Bryant’s planned visit to UM. Sometime later, Lingard, a former five-star recruit now recuperating from a recent knee injury, deleted the tweet.
“They say it’s business,’’ the tweet began. “i believe in my QBs ...Anything possible with opportunity but loyalty is the code? ...i forgot it’s business.’’
At the end of his tweet, Lingard posted a laughing emoji.
Williams, UM’s former four-star recruit who joined the Canes as an early enrollee in January, then quoted Lingard’s original tweet, with this message: “Real talk.’’
By Tuesday afternoon, coach Mark Richt was asked at his weekly news conference about how he handles the possibility of bringing in a graduate transfer with the team, because often graduate transfers expect that they’ll start. Bryant’s name wasn’t mentioned specifically.
“We’ve never brought in a graduate transfer and promised him he’d start,’’ Richt said. “We’ve never done that. We’ve only promised an opportunity to compete and then they look at the situation and decide whether they think that situation is one that makes sense to them and that’s what they do.
“The bottom line is we are always trying to build our roster through any means that’s legal. And that means it helps us be stronger because competition creates better play, and that’s what we’re looking for.
“So, I’m not talking specific to any position as I know you guys want me to, but any time a graduate transfer is coming to the program, he’s always been promised an opportunity to play, an opportunity to win a job, but we’ve never said, ‘Hey, you come in here, you’re going to start for us.’
“We’ve never done that. You can’t do that. It’s not right. It’s not fair to anybody.”
Bryant started the first four games of this season for the Tigers after leading Clemson to the College Football Playoff in 2017. En route to the CFP semifinal loss to Alabama, Bryant led the Tigers to a 38-3 blowout over Miami in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game.
But true freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence replaced Bryant as the starter before Clemson’s fifth game, and Bryant, who graduated in May, almost immediately announced he was seeking a graduate transfer. The NCAA allows players who have earned their degrees and still have a year of remaining eligibility the chance to transfer and play immediately rather than sitting out a seasons, as non-graduates do.
This season, Bryant went 35 of 53 for 456 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. Considered a dual threat, he added 144 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries.
In 2017, Bryant went 262 of 398 for 2,802 yards and 13 touchdowns, with eight interceptions. He ran for 665 yards and 11 touchdowns on 192 carries.
Bryant’s connection to Arkansas coach Chad Morris, who recruited him out of high school and was his offensive coordinator at Clemson, might give the Razorbacks the edge. Bryant also has a small connection to UM senior quarterback and former starter Malik Rosier, who said earlier this season that he is friends with Bryant and had talked to him since the transfer announcement.
Regarding the other Canes quarterbacks, Williams has played in one game and is allowed to play in another three and still maintain the next four years of eligibility because of a new NCAA rule. Perry will make his fifth start at Virginia Tech (4-5, 3-3 ACC) on Saturday, with Miami (5-5, 2-4) needing one victory in their last two regular-season games to qualify for a bowl. Weldon has played sparingly in three games.
Richt was finally asked how he handles graduate transfer situations with younger players who might be upset.
“We don’t ask anybody’s permission to do that,’’ Richt said. “We recruit every year at all positions. We recruit high school kids. We look at junior college kids. We look at guys that might transfer that aren’t graduates. I think everybody in America is doing that, so we’re not doing anything different than anybody else.”
Added Richt: “We haven’t talked to anybody in specific about whatever you’re talking about. There may come a time that you have to have a discussion about whatever it may be, but right now I’ve not sat anybody down and had a discussion with anybody.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 12:57 PM.