Syracuse Football: 5 questions with Clemson PxP Don Munson

Paul A. Esden Jr. (@BoyGreen25): 

So last season Clemson won the National Championship and they did so with NFL first round pick Deshaun Watson who is doing wonderful things in the NFL. Now this year Clemson has Kelly Bryant and they haven’t skipped a beat, can you talk about the differences between these two players?

Don Munson (@WDonaldMunson):

While so far they’ve achieved the same results, they’ve done it in completely different ways. For instance, Deshaun was a guy that blazed you with his arm and occasionally he’d tuck it and run. Obviously a couple years ago he did that in the Carrier Dome. But you wouldn’t characterize Watson as a run first quarterback.

While Kelly Bryant, through six games so far this season has very similar numbers to what Watson put up last year. The real difference is Bryant has a lot of his touchdowns on the ground as opposed to through the air.

So the biggest difference offensively is that this team isn’t airing it out. They’re grinding out games on the ground. They come in averaging a little over 233 rushing yards per game. The key is they get enough of the passing game going so that the run game can thrive.

But make no mistake about it, Bryant can throw the football. While this week he’s battling a foot injury from last week, he’s continuing to work through it. The expectation is that he’s going to play on Friday. The team is aware that they lost pieces last year. Coach Dabo loves to say it’s not about who you lost but who you have right now.