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Clemson LB: Dabo Swinney apologized for anthem comments being a distraction

nick bromberg
Dabo Swinney spoke out about protesting the national anthem last week (Getty).
Dabo Swinney spoke out about protesting the national anthem last week (Getty).

Clemson linebacker Dorian O’Daniel said coach Dabo Swinney made an apology to the team after his comments regarding national anthem protests.

Swinney was asked about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s anthem protest last week. Swinney’s response to the question and remarks on the topic spanned approximately 10 minutes as he said that while he wouldn’t discipline one of his own players for taking a knee during the national anthem, he wouldn’t agree with the mechanism of using the team as a platform for protest.

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From the Charleston Post and Courier:

“He apologized for being a team distraction, since he’s always preaching about (not being a distraction),” redshirt junior linebacker Dorian O’Daniel said Tuesday. “A lot of guys appreciated the apology, even though we weren’t looking for it.”

O’Daniel, one of the team’s oldest and most well-spoken players, said many players hadn’t heard much about the hubbub until Swinney brought it up.

“We know Coach Swinney not only as a coach, but a man,” O’Daniel said. “I think people took what he said out of context. People who had something to say about it don’t know him like we know him.”

You can listen to Swinney’s full remarks from last week here, where he also cited Martin Luther King Jr.’s practices of protest.

While we disagreed with part of the way Swinney made his point about protesting and affecting social change, he deserves a lot of credit to have the self-awareness to apologize to his team. By doing so he’s holding himself to the same standard that he would hold his players to regarding being a distraction if one of them protested during the national anthem.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!