Clemson coach Dabo Swinney this week made the difficult decision of benching starting quarterback Kelly Bryant in favor of star freshman backup Trevor Lawrence.

Bryant did not practice on Monday, and Swinney later explained how their conversation went as the coach gave the quarterback the rest of the day off. This came after quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter met with Bryant Sunday night.

“It’s a bad day to be the head coach,” Swinney said, according to The State. “Most days it’s good. This was a bad day, because I love Kelly. It was emotional. Emotional for him. A tough day. I gave him the day off last night. There’s not a guy that’s ever been here, as long as I’ve been at Clemson, there’s not a guy that’s more committed to this program than Kelly Bryant. There’s not a better leader. He’s the epitome of what you want. He’s what you want your son to be like.”

Swinney was asked about Bryant transferring, but he didn’t specifically address that part. Swinney said Bryant did not say he’s planning to transfer, but it’s an option given the new redshirt rule

“We talked about lots of things. It was a deep, long, emotional conversation,” Swinney said. “It’s something that we needed to talk through and go from there.”

A player can play in up to four games during a season but still keep their year of eligibility and redshirt. Bryant has not used his redshirt year yet and could sit out the rest of the year and transfer to play next season in another uniform.

Swinney added that if he was worried about Bryant transferring, he would start him this week against Syracuse. But the coach doesn’t operate like that, he said.

“There is no question (Lawrencee) has elite, elite ability to push the ball down the field,” Swinney said. “But Kelly has also demonstrated that he can do everything that we need him to do in that regard.”

Swinney has said that Bryant’s numbers have improved each season. But Lawrence also had four touchdowns in a win last week at Georgia Tech, and is among the nation’s leaders in pass efficiency and yards per pass.