South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier spoke on Clowney's injury following the victory, and expressed a lot of frustration with his star player.
“I would just say he told me he couldn’t play,” Spurrier said, via ESPN.com. “That his ribs hurt, couldn’t run, and said ‘I can’t play.’ I said that’s fine, you don’t have to play and we’ll move on. And he may not be able to play next week, I don’t know. But we’re not going to worry about it, I can assure you that.”
Spurrier went on to say that it was Clowney's decision to sit out the game.
“If he wants to play, we’ll welcome him to come play for the team if he wants to. But if he doesn’t want to play, he doesn’t have to play. Simple as that.
This all goes back to what happened before the 2013 college football season began, when many wondered if Clowney would sit out this year in order to avoid injury as he prepares to become a top 3 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. Clowney said he would not sit out, but so far, Spurrier has been making it look like he is afraid of getting hurt in order to prevent his draft stock from plummeting.
This article was written by Josh Dhani. Follow him on Twitter here and read more of his work here.
