Dabo Swinney provides incredible perspective on life after multiple tragedies within program

It’s been an emotional week for the Clemson football family, headlined by the tragic death of Ella Breese, the sister of Tiger’s defensive lineman Bryan Breese, who lost her battle to an aggressive form of brain cancer last Thursday. Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei spoke on how her death changed his perspective and outlook on life, which head coach Dabo Swinney echoed in his most recent press conference.

“Absolutely, as tragic as this has been it’s given us the opportunity to have some real-life conversations way beyond football,” Swinney said. “As I said the other day, these guys aren’t robots, they’re not androids, they’re real people. And they’re not perfect, I’m not perfect, none of y’all are perfect, we all have flaws and mistakes, but it’s one of these times in life where you have a chance to have some deep conversations.”

Ella spoke to the team before their week 3 game versus Furman, and it may have been the last time the Tigers team was able to be with her, but her strength and words clearly made a lasting impact on all members of the Clemson football program, especially coach Swinney.

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“And men aren’t always vulnerable, so a lot of vulnerability, a lot just good life perspective, and I think we can all learn from Ella, sweet girl. She had written a letter and she just talked about how bad cancer was, yes it’s bad but she said I have a choice, and I choose to have a great attitude and I’m gonna make the best of each day, and it was just amazing,” Swinney said.

Swinney elaborated more on some of the lessons that Ella had shared with the team during her life, and which ones stood out the most to him.

“And then she talked about how cancer changed her, this is a 14, 15 year old girl and she’s like cancer has changed me, and then she just goes on and she’s basically telling everybody don’t hold grudges, love the sports you get to play, appreciate that,” Swinney said. “She talked about your family and telling the people you love that you love them, it was just awesome.”

The team had another recent tragedy as Noah Harvin, one of Clemson’s Graduate Assistant Equipment Managers, mother passed away this weekend following a car accident on her way up to Clemson to visit her son. Swinney described the event as devastating, and spoke about how these recent hardships between the Breese and Harvin families can change one’s perspective.

“These are opportunities for everybody, young and old, to truly gain perspective on what’s important, how we should live our life, how we should treat people, how we should process things. And again just try to find joy in the journey and find joy in every moment that comes our way, because we can’t do anything about yesterday, there’s not hope for that and we’re not promised tomorrow,” Swinney said.

Swinney closed out his press conference with a heartfelt, inspirational message, as the Tigers continue their season with heavy hearts and plenty of emotion moving forward.

“If we all knew this was our last day, how would we live? You’d probably call somebody and tell them you love them, right? And so if we try to live that way, it makes the whole world a better place and I think Ella exemplified that, right in the midst of the fight of her life and how hard it was. She was an inspiration, and just joyful to everyone every single day and thankful for every single day she had,” Swinney said.