Former Clemson QB has chance to win championship, talks what's next

Former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant led the Tigers to the ACC championship in 2017. Nearly five years later, Bryant is playing for another title.

Bryant and the Zappers will face the Bored Ape Football Club in the Fan Controlled Football championship game Saturday night at 8 p.m. The game, which will be played in Atlanta, will be streamed live on Twitch, NBCLX, Peacock, DAZN and Fubo Sports Network.

Bryant was at home working out a couple of months ago hoping to get an opportunity to continue playing football when he was approached about possibly joining the FCF league. He’s now extremely happy that he did.

“I took a chance, came down here, and really right since I got here and played my first game, it’s been a very unique experience,” Bryant told On3. “I found the love of football back playing here in this league. The last two weeks I’ve been playing at a really high level.”

After being approached about joining the league, Bryant spoke with a former teammate at Missouri who played in the FCF league and decided it was worth it a shot.

An injury and adjusting to different rules slowed Bryant down a bit early on, but he and Johnny Manziel eventually led the Zappers to the championship game. Bryant had 123 total yards and three touchdowns last weekend to help the Zappers reach the championship.

“The experience has been really cool,” Bryant said. “With it being the championship game, the biggest thing is trying to win, first and foremost. And then for me personally, just getting more film. This is an opportunity on a bigger stage.”

The league is 7-on-7 tackle football with fans calling the plays, and Bryant has excelled in it.

He is hopeful that the film he has put out will lead to other leagues being interested, whether it be the NFL, XFL or Canadian Football League.

Another option for Bryant is to get into coaching. He recently received an offer to be a grad assistant at Missouri after helping out at Wren High School last year.

“That’s what I ultimately want to do once I get settled and figure out when the timing is right,” he said. “When I did it [at Wren] I really enjoyed it. An opportunity has presented itself the last few weeks for a GA spot. If I do that I’m going to pretty much hang up the cleats, so I’m pretty much trying to play it by ear.”

Bryant signed with Clemson in the class of 2015 and spent 3.5 seasons with the Tigers before transferring to Missouri.

He was the starting QB for the Tigers in 2017, leading Clemson to an ACC title and College Football Playoff Berth. Bryant was named one of 11 finalists for the Manning Award that year and finished with 2,802 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Trevor Lawrence took over as Clemson’s starting QB in 2018, which led to Bryant entering the transfer portal so that he could play one more season of college football as a starter.

He remains close friends with several former Clemson teammates, including Isaiah Simmons, Diondre Overton, Travis Etienne and Tee Higgins.

Bryant attended Clemson’s home opener last year against SC State and was back at the spring game this year, as well.

“There’s no bad blood or bad ties with me or anybody there,” he said. “That’s basically home.”