Clemson Football: John Simpson delivered during ACC Media Days

Many media members weren’t necessarily happy when they heard Clemson football was sending John Simpson for the 2019 ACC Football Kickoff.

Media members can think what they want when it comes to Dabo Swinney’s decision on which Clemson football players to send to the 2019 ACC Football Kickoff, but one thing’s for sure: John Simpson delivered.

While several media members were upset that the Tigers weren’t sending Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Tee Higgins or Justyn Ross to media days, John Simpson sat back, relaxed and absolutely relished the opportunity.

Simpson chose to give the media exactly what they wanted Wednesday when he walked into the hotel conference room area. With hundreds of media members standing by, Simpson grabbed the attention of the entire room wearing a blonde wig as to imitate the star Clemson football QB.

Simpson was dubbed as Trevor Lawrence’s stunt double. He addressed how he felt with the media and made the point that it all starts up front on the offensive line.

It wasn’t long after that the ACC media members got word of what was happening at SEC Media Days. Alabama LB Dylan Moses told the media that the toughest team he had ever faced was Georgia, despite the fact that Clemson had beaten the Crimson Tide by 28 points in the National Championship game.

Media members quickly made a point to ask Simpson about the comments made by Moses and he delivered with a nice little quote of his own. He even told those in attendance that Notre Dame was the toughest opponent he had faced all season.

Simpson proved several things during ACC Media Days that shouldn’t be overlooked.

First, he proved that he’s not going to back down from anything. It would’ve been easy for a player to just try to ignore what media members said about him or to back down because of what people said. Instead, he double-down, stood up for himself and his team.

That is, without a doubt, the makings of a great leader.

He also proved that he has the perfect personality to be a veteran leader for the Tigers. Though Simpson is serious when he’s on the field, he’s also a guy that enjoys having fun and joking around from time to time.

The Clemson football offensive line is certainly in capable of hands as the Tigers head into 2019 and it all starts with the leadership and talent of John Simpson.