Dabo Swinney talks to media regarding Kyle Parker

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Jun 08 17:50:13 GMT-04:00 2010

CLEMSON – Following is an edited transcript of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s press conference from earlier today, where he discussed quarterback Kyle Parker and his being drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the first round of last night’s major league draft.

On how he received the news: I was speaking in Greenville last night, and I walked out of the Embassy Suites, got in the car, and saw I had a voicemail from Tim Bourret …. “I went, oh boy.” I got another text message from a friend. “I was like, well, here we go.” I called Kyle’s dad during game, congratulated him, and sent Kyle a text too. The main thing I think right now is now we know what somebody values him as a baseball player. He was the 26th pick, and I told Carl, that really doesn’t surprise me in the fact that they’ve had a lot of success with Todd Helton. rom that standpoint I’m not really surprised, but I’m really happy for Kyle. I’ve said it many times. I still think he’s a better football player. I think he has the ability to be a phenomenal quarterback, and ultimately he’ll have to make the decision on what he truly wants to do. Obviously, finances are going to have a big part of the decision he has to make moving forward. For him to walk away from playing football and giving up a potential professional career in that sport in well, somebody’s got to be willing to pay him for that. I know there’ll be a lot of talk between now and when he has to decide. I don’t think it’ll go that long, but until we have some facts and figures from their negotiations, I think it’ll be hard for him to really, truly make a decision.”

On whether he thought Parker would sign with the Rockies: We’ll support him in whatever he decides. I personally think he will definitely sign (in) professional baseball. I really don’t doubt that at all. In fact, I kind of felt like that would be the case regardless. My biggest question was, ‘Does he continue to play football, or does he walk away?” that’s been the question in my mind. I felt like if he got drafted in the first three rounds that he would definitely sign a professional baseball contract, but I didn’t think he’d walk away for anything less than significant money, because he’d be walking away from a lot.

On his ability as a quarterback: Kyle is a guy that I just don’t have any doubts that this guy can be a very good professional quarterback one day, and at the very least, be a great backup. It’s just going to come down to what he wants to do, because I know he can be a pro in either sport. Ultimately, it comes down to him. Kyle is special, and the thing I would hate is to see him not playing football. He just has a great knack for the position, and he’s only going to get better and better and better. What he did as a freshman is phenomenal. He’s got every record you can have as a freshman quarterback here. They’ve been playing a long time here, and it’s hard to do what he did as a freshman. He set the bar very high as a young player, and again, would just continue to get better and better if he continued to play the sport.

On how he sees it playing out: Ultimately, he’ll make a decision. We’ll support him, but at the end of the day, I think it’s just going to come down to finances and what they actually put in front of him. This is a very wise family, and I know they’ll make a good decision. That’s been my gut all along, but I didn’t think he’d be drafted that high. That was a little bit of a surprise to me.

On whether he still believes Parker has a chance to return to Clemson for football: Until he tells me he’s not playing football, it’s been my stand all along he’d be back. If he’s not, we’ve got Mike Wade, who’s a guy that we as a staff have a lot of confidence in, and then we’ve got a freshman. It’s not good for your health when this is what you do for a living to have to live with freshman quarterbacks, but if we’ve got to go with a freshman, man, I’m ready to go with a guy like Tajh Boyd. There’s going to be some growing pains and we’ll deal with them, but there’s nobody I’d want to be with other than that young man. I’m just thankful we have him. I would think they’d probably be willing to negotiate highly in their favor, and that’s to do what they’ve got to do to get Kyle Parker to give up football, so we’ll see. I still think he could play football in the fall, enter the NFL Draft and see what happens in both of them. Obviously, the Rockies have stepped up and said, “You know what? We believe in you. You’re a guy we want to try to groom to be part of our future.’ But there’s a lot of first rounder’s that never get there, so there’s a lot of unknowns.

On what happens if it comes down to Tajh Boyd and Michael Wade: We’d just go to work with those two guys, let then compete in camp and whoever gives us the best chance to win Sept. 4, that’s who you go with. Regardless of what we do, Tajh Boyd ain’t going to stand on the sideline. He’s got to play. He’s very talented and he’s going to get better and better. To sit here in June and say it’s not Mike Wade, that’s not fair to Mike Wade. We’ll just let them go to work. We’ll make it work. We’re not going to make any excuses. We’ll just line up and do what we’ve got to do to try to find a way to win every week.