CLEMSON, S.C. _ Clemson coach Dabo Swinney passionately defended the health of quarterback Trevor Lawrence Wednesday night, stating that any throws his star quarterback has missed through five games had nothing to do with a potential shoulder injury.
"There ain't nothing wrong with Trevor. Nothing," Swinney said. "If he missed a throw it's because he missed a throw. Period. If he made a mental mistake he made a mental mistake. He's not hurt. There's nothing wrong with him ... All these people just need to relax. He's a human."
Swinney was asked if he could confirm Lawrence had an MRI on his shoulder following the Texas A&M game, a day after TigerIllustrated reported Lawrence suffered a bruised shoulder against the Aggies and underwent an MRI.
Swinney seemed particularly annoyed that a reporter texted him Tuesday night asking him about the report.
"I'm not confirming any of that, and I don't want anybody texting me anymore. I had a media guy text me the other night. That's private information," Swinney said. "If I want anybody to know our medical stuff, I'll tell you. We'll put it on the injury report. But people texting me on my phone to ask me information that's not public, information that I wouldn't put out, unless it was something that needed to be put out. That's bad business. That's not how we do things."
Lawrence entered the season as the Heisman favorite but has been up-and-down through the first five games.
The sophomore has completed 61.8% of his throws in 2019, down from 65.2% last year, and he has eight touchdowns and five interceptions this season after finishing with 30 touchdowns and four picks in 2018.
But Swinney insisted the numbers being down from last season are not injury related.
"If we did an MRI or we didn't, that ain't nobody's business. We do MRIs all the time. All the time," Swinney said. "I mean a guy gets a bruise on his knee we do an MRI. A guy bruises his elbow we get an MRI. It's like we gotta find... It drives me crazy. There's no drama on our team, and so we just want to create, 'Oh, Trevor missed a throw. He must be hurt.' No, he's human. He's human. Trevor Lawrence is a great football player and a great leader. And there ain't nothing wrong with him."
While Swinney did not confirm the MRI, he did say that Lawrence had a bruised shoulder, but it's not something that is affecting his throwing motion or his productivity.
"He had a bruise. If there was something wrong with him would we be running him on the goalline?" Swinney said. "I mean he's run great. There ain't nothing wrong with him."
