Could Louisville Football be an Option for Kelly Bryant?

Clemson quarterback, Kelly Bryant, announced his intent to transfer today. Could Louisville football be an option for his services?

We see it happening more and more each year. A quarterback achieves a high level of success, only to have a highly ranked freshman come in the next season with a lot of potential and unseat them as the starting QB. Louisville experienced this earlier in the season with Jalen Hurts, and Tua Tagovailoa, as the latter was named the starter for the season opener.

History has now repeated itself with Kelly Bryant, the star QB at Clemson. Bryant led the team to the college football playoff last season after replacing Deshaun Watson. He looked like he was going to be the guy for the long haul, until the Tigers received a commitment from the #1 player in the 2018 class, Trevor Lawrence.

After playing both QB’s over the first four weeks of the season, Dabo Swinney handed over the reins to Lawrence full-time, leading Kelly Bryant to announce his intent to transfer away from Clemson.

With all the QB problems the Cards have faced this season with Puma Pass and Malik Cunningham, could the Louisville football program have interest in the former Clemson QB? There’s no way to tell quite yet, but it would make total sense. Bryant and Clemson don’t seem to be leaving on such good terms, and Louisville is a school with a plethora of weapons and a ready made offense for the senior QB.

There’s a famous saying that says “One man’s trash, is another man’s treasure,” and that will absolutely be the case with Kelly Bryant and whoever lands him next season. For Bryant, it seems his decision to transfer wasn’t so much about Trevor Lawrence, or being a backup, but more so about how it was all handled.

In an exclusive interview with the Greenville news, Kelly Bryant spoke about Clemson benching him in favor of Trevor Lawrence, saying:

"“They asked me how I felt about it. I was like, ‘I’m not discrediting Trevor (Lawrence). He’s doing everything asked of him, but on my side of it, I feel like I haven’t done anything to not be the starter. I’ve been here. I’ve waited my turn. I’ve done everything y’all have asked me to do, plus more.’ I’ve never been a distraction. I’ve never been in trouble with anything. To me, it was kind of a slap in the face.”"

After making 18 starts during his time at Clemson, Bryant led the Tigers to a 16-2 record, including one ACC championship and a trip to the College Football Playoff. Statistically, Bryant totaled 3,402 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns to 10 interceptions, and another 795 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns.

This season new Clemson QB, Trevor Lawrence, had split snaps with Bryant after being beat out for the starting position in camp. While Bryant has a been a very good QB for Clemson, it was obvious that Lawrence presented a much higher upside for Tigers and gave the team a much better shot at winning their second national championship in the last few years.

For Bryant, his transfer comes at the perfect time as he already appeared in four games this season. Should he have played a snap against Syracuse, he would have lost the ability to redshirt and his career would’ve ended in January.

Now the senior QB will have one more year of eligibility, beginning in 2019-20, and will have a handful of big time programs knocking on his door, maybe even including Bobby Petrino and the Cards.

As I mentioned before, Louisville has an offense that easily could be tailored to the skills of Bryant, a guy who can be somewhat compared to Lamar Jackson style wise.

Bryant has carried the ball 257 times during his four years at Clemson, totaling 973 yards, and 16 touchdowns, while throwing at a 65%+ mark every season. The Cards do have several options at QB on the roster including the aforementioned Puma Pass and Malik Cunningham, along with true freshman Jordan Travis, who has yet to have the opportunity to prove himself on the field. Louisville also holds a commitment from three star QB, Jaden Johnson, in the class of 2019.

If you’re Bobby Petrino and you finish the season at 4-8, or worse, landing Kelly Bryant could be one way to keep your job. If Petrino is able to prove to Athletic Director, Vince Tyra, that this in-fact was just a “rebuilding” year, where the right guy wasn’t on the roster at QB and you have Bryant in your back pocket, it may be enough to keep his job.

Petrino’s offense the last several years has been predicated on having a dual-threat QB in Lamar Jackson, one who was capable of making just about every throw possible and being able to make huge plays with his legs. Bryant is built in similar fashion, and could be intrigued by what Petrino could do with his final year of eligibility.

Expect almost every big time program to pursue Bryant for the 2019-20, including Bobby Petrino and the Louisville Cardinals.