‘It’s kind of embarrassing’: Dabo Swinney rips ‘people trying to take advantage of the system’ before facing Lane Kiffin

LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin, no stranger to controversy, sparked another one when the Tigers brought in tight end Dae’Quan Wright after he had been released by the Cleveland Browns with the intention of having him compete for the Tigers this season.

The move has left other members of the SEC furious, and Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian did not mince words about how he felt regarding the situation.

“These players on all of our rosters, not just ours, have been working for 9 months for this moment on Saturday, which then will lead into the next 5 to 6 months,” Sarkisian said.

“The fact that somebody out there is going to take a player off of an NFL roster and tell somebody who’s been doing it for 9 months, go kick rocks, that doesn’t sit well with me. I think that’s wrong, that morally is wrong.”

Now, the man who will be standing across from Kiffin on the sidelines Week 1, Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney is weighing in on the situation.

Tensions are rising

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Swinney said of players returning to college ranks after NFL stints, via ESPN’s David Hale. “Honestly, it’s embarrassing that’s where we are. I don’t blame the kids, but people trying to take advantage of the system. It’s embarrassing but we’ve been there for a while.”

Dabo on NFL guys being able to play: “It’s kind of embarrassing, Honestly, it’s embarrassing that’s where we are. I don’t blame the kids, but people trying to take advantage of the system. It’s embarrassing but we’ve been there for a while.”

Adds “no pun intended but we’re just…

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Swinney added, “no pun intended but we’re just going to stay in our LANE.”

For his part, Kiffin addressed the situation on Monday and said everyone within the Tigers’ building is all for doing whatever it takes to win, which helped ease any mixed feelings he may have had.

“Every one of them was emphatic about, ‘If they can help us win, bring ’em,'” Kiffin told media members on Monday, according to ESPN. “We understand we have a team that’s practiced together and worked together all offseason, but one of them said, ‘Hey, this is how it works at the next level, and this is how the real world works.’ So that made me feel a little better in the struggle and being torn back and forth.”