Tajh Boyd defends Swinney: "His heart is in the right place"

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Thu Sep 15 13:08:50 GMT-04:00 2016

Former Clemson standout Tajh Boyd was on ESPN radio show Russillo & Kannel on Wednesday and discussed his candid reaction to the backlash from Swinney's opinion on the Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest.

"Honestly man his heart is in the right place," Boyd said about Swinney. "I can honestly say that Coach Swinney is one of the most pure people I have ever met. Initially, that is why recruits go play for him. That's why I went and played for him. With the likes of being recruited by Mike Bellotti, Jim Trussel and him being a brand new coach who he was as a person and what he stands for is the reason I went to play for him and why everybody else does as well."

Boyd knows that social media is a powerful platform, and things can be taken out of context.

"I think social media is a wonderful platform, absolutely," Boyd said. "But at the end of the day, people want to decipher everything you say, and they want to pick apart every little piece of it. I can truly and honestly tell you that he is the most fair man I have ever met. He is the most forgiving man; he is the most loving man. Who he is with his kids is that's is what he is to us as players. To be honest, the way people have tried to rip it apart that is the most disappointing part about it. I was actually going to write a piece about Coach Swinney today just to give people a realization and standpoint of who he is, what he has came from and what he envisions."

Boyd thinks that some people are a little too sensitive in today's world.

"I think he honestly was saying that like if you tell your mom when you are a kid that you don't like the food she is cooking - 'well alright go find some food somewhere else.' It wasn't what people thought it was," Boyd said. "People are very sensitive these days, to be completely honest. To be blunt about it, people will take everything the wrong way and want to make something out of anything and I think that is what they are doing with Coach Swinney right now. People are saying he is a dreamer for what he wants the country to be and he is a dreamer. From him to come from Pelham, Alabama from nothing, his mom lived with him in college, from a broken family to be the person he is today; he had to dream and envision himself being what he is today back then. I don't think there is anything wrong with anyone having this perception or wanting something to be what it could be potentially down the line even if it is not set in stone right now."

Boyd agreed wholeheartedly with Swinney's remarks said during Tuesday's press conference.

"I didn't personally disagree with anything that he said," Boyd said. "Yeah you could potentially take the argument to go to a different country and try to rip it away that way but outside that a lot of people didn't actually listen to the full interview. They listened to a snippet. They listened to how it was broken down and cut and pasted by some of these sites and some of these people to make something into (something) when it is not."

Boyd wants everyone to know that Swinney is as genuine a person that he has ever met.

"When he was talking about MLK was everything crystal clear, no, but the message was as a whole we need to unify ourselves and we can only do that though certain things - through love, through peace, through tolerance of others," Boyd said. "At the end of the day, I don't think people honestly liked Coach Swinney talking about the Bible either. But I will tell you one thing. He is genuine. and genuine is something that you can appreciate. Genuine is something you can respect. There is not many people out there that are going to give you their cold hearted facts and they are going to stick by it and they are going to be really truthful to what they say and that who he is and that is what he does and that is what he continues to do."

Boyd finished by saying that he has nothing but love for Swinney.

"He is just a stand-up dude," Boyd said. "I love him to death with all my heart to be completely honest."