For Tigers, off week offers chance to recover from emotional few weeks

Tre Lamar said the off week couldn't come at a better time after a trying couple of weeks.

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Mon Oct 08 14:10:59 GMT-04:00 2018

CLEMSON – For a physically, emotionally and mentally drained Clemson football team, the off week couldn’t come at a better time.

The Tigers have played six games – half of the regular season schedule – and have dealt with a leader in Kelly Bryant leaving the team and the sudden loss of a former a teammate.

All of that has made for exhausted players and staff, who are looking to use this week as a chance to decompress and recharge.

“It was definitely tough losses on both ends (Bryant and Fuller) but I feel like with this week we can decompress and get ready for the rest of the season,” linebacker Tre Lamar said Monday morning. “We know that we're a solid group now and we can keep moving forward.

“It's been a tough couple of weeks emotionally, for sure, for this team. I feel like we've stayed strong through this whole thing but it's definitely nice to have this week off because it gives us some time to decompress and really refocus for the rest of the season.”

For offensive lineman Sean Pollard, the off week represents a chance at normalcy.

“It's nice. The bye week lined up good with six and six, so it is a great time of year,” Pollard said. “I enjoy football season. We all do and we train all year for 12 games so it's nice to have a week off where we don't have a Saturday game and we can let our bodies rest up a little bit and get ready for the long run.

“Mentally, it's nice to disconnect for a day and be a normal person and a normal student and disconnect to just enjoy being a college kid. Some guys get to go home it's nice to get to see your family for a weekend because we don't get to always see them and we don't get to see them during bowl season. It will be nice to disconnect for a day but all we need is a day and we'll get back into it.”

With everything starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been through over the last couple of weeks, most would think he would be looking forward to some downtime, but he said he’ll treat this week as a normal week.

“It will be a normal week as far as preparing and practicing, but this weekend I’ll just go home and spend some time with my family,” Lawrence said. “I’ll probably take the weekend off. I think it(the off week) will be good for everyone and it’s definitely coming at a good time. If we didn’t have it, I think we’d still play well and be fine but it definitely helps.”