Missouri QB Kelly Bryant: Not Sure There Will Be a Big Difference from ACC to SEC
HOOVER - Missouri QB Kelly Bryant says he’s not sure what will be different for him coming from the ACC to the SEC as a quarterback.
On how fast coaches began to contact him once he entered the transfer portal, and what made him choose Missouri ...
“Right when I put myself in the portal and coaches could contact me, Missouri was the first school that contacted me. It was a crazy process. When I went out there on a visit, I just pretty much fell in love with everything that they had to offer. For me, within that last year, the biggest thing for me was that I have one year to get it right, and I can’t have any slip-ups. They knew it, and they were selling me on how Drew (Lock) had the success he had within the year when he put himself in the position to be where he wanted to be, and at the end of the year, he was a second-round draft pick. I was like, okay, that’s a box check for me – how they can grow me into the quarterback that I want to be, being able to play at the next level.”
On how he reacted to the postseason ban after everything he had been through …
“It was a weird day. I was in the facility, and all of the sudden, everybody was getting a text message that we were having a team meeting that wasn’t planned. For me, I thought, “did someone get fired and they didn’t tell me about it?” Hearing Coach Odom deliver the message, he just laid it out there for us. He was open, he said, “if anybody wants to leave, no one is going to look at you any differently. You have the opportunity to stay here as well.” He said they were going to try to appeal it, and that it is going to be a process. Just hearing that, I was like, first and foremost, I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to go through that recruiting process over again, and I already built the relationship in that month or two, with those guys, I was already establishing myself and just working every day. This is where I want to be. I made the decision, so I am not going to turn back on it now.”
On how Coach (Derek) Dooley has been helping his game ...
“Well, the pitch for me coming to Missouri, he saw what I did at Clemson. He loved the things he saw from a passing standpoint and also what I can do with my legs, because I can make plays with my legs and I am able to extend plays. Being where he was with the (Dallas) Cowboys, seeing Dak (Prescott), seeing Tony (Romo), having that experience with them and the Cowboys offense, and bringing it to Missouri, being able to put yourself in the position where he’s going to make plays for you where you’re comfortable. He is not going to call anything where he is comfortable and the quarterback is not comfortable. He is going to cater to you, and just knowing that, I have that in my pocket where I can go into a meeting and say “I like this” or “I don’t like this, so let’s do this”, and he is going to cater to you. That’s just been one of the biggest things that I like about playing for him so far.”
