Trotter comments on the questionable roughing the passer penalty against Wake Forest
During Clemson’s underwhelming 17-12 win over Wake Forest, we saw a questionable roughing the passer penalty against Tigers’ star linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., that had the entirety of Memorial Stadium booing.
In the third quarter, Trotter was sent on a blitz where he exploded through the offensive line and laid a beautiful hit down on Wake Forest quarterback Mitch Griffis. This looked like a clean hit for myself and seemingly everyone other than the refs.
Rather than a huge sack in a 7-point game, Wake Forest was given the call and delivered the ball on the Tigers’ 24-yard line. For Trotter, he simply had to move on from this and think about the next play.
“I’m just a player,” Trotter said. “The ref said, roughing the passer, and I had to keep playing and move on. I will let the fans have their own opinion on that.”
Credit to Trotter for this response because I know many others would not have been so friendly about that call. It is a great mindset to have as a player, as you need to move to the next play rather than worry about the past.
On the other hand, Dabo Swinney had a bit funnier response to this one.
“I’d probably get in trouble if I got into all that; I’ll plead the 5th,” said Swinney.
Calls like this will happen, and there is nothing we can do to change that. You must move on and make up for it in the next play.
