Lawrence, Galloway, Giella all will miss Cotton Bowl

By Will Vandervort - The Clemson Insider 

Lawrence, Galloway, Giella all will miss Cotton Bowl

DALLAS — The NCAA has upheld its suspensions for Dexter Lawrence, Braden Galloway and Zach Giella.

Clemson University received confirmation from the NCAA for the three Tigers who have have been suspended for a failed drug test last week and will not be allowed to play in Saturday’s Cotton Bowl Classic against Notre Dame.

“This evening, Clemson Athletics received confirmation from the NCAA of suspensions for tight end Braden Galloway, offensive lineman Zach Giella and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, all three of whom will be unavailable for Saturday’s game against Notre Dame,” Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said in a statement. “The athletic department will have no further comment on the matter this evening as it considers all of our options, including appeals.”

Lawrence, along with Galloway and Giella, tested positive for a steroid named Ostarine, a PED, which can be found in every day products.

“I was looking at my phone like, ‘are you crazy! What is wrong with you to be joking about something like that?’ Then (Coach Dabo Swinney) told me I tested positive for something I have never heard of before,” the All-American said during media day for the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium on Thursday.

Early on Thursday, Lawrence said he is not the type of guy to do a selfish act like that and take a banned substance.

“I have too much pride. I love this team too much to even think about putting a substance like that in my body,” he said. “I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know how it got there. I was raised different. If I did do it, I would own up to it.

“I honestly do not know where it came from or where I got it. It is just there and there is nothing I can really do about it right now.”

You can read more about what this means for Clemson at TheClemsonInsider.com