Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins took to Twitter to defend former college head coach Dabo Swinney on Wednesday morning.
Hopkins said Swinney, “has never been a racist or had any ill will towards a player,” while also saying the Clemson head coach, “helped me become a man.”
One thing I do know Coach Swinney has never been a racist or had any ill will towards any player. Best coach I’ve ever been around from a football perspective and personal perspective. He helped me become a man and grow from being a kid from Central South Carolina.
— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) June 10, 2020
Hopkins' remarks come in the wake of criticism Swinney received for how he handled an assistant coach using a racial slur three years ago.
Former Tigers tight end D.J. Greenlee alleged Danny Pearman used the slur during practice, though Swinney says the incident was taken out of context (via Andrea Adelson of ESPN):
“I would fire a coach immediately if he called a player an N-word. No questions asked,” Swinney said Monday. “That did not happen. Absolutely did not happen. It has not happened. Coach Pearman was correcting D.J., and another player was talking to D.J., or D.J. was yelling at the player, and D.J. said something he probably shouldn't have said. He said, ‘I blocked the wrong f—ing N-word,' and Coach Pearman thought he was saying it to him, and he's mad, and he reacted, and in correcting him, he repeated the phrase.
“And [Pearman] said, ‘We don't say we blocked the wrong f—ing N-word.' And he repeated it. He shouldn't have done that. There's no excuse for even saying that. But there is a big difference. He did not call someone an N-word.”
Numerous other players defended Swinney as well.
As Hopkins defends the integrity of his former head coach, he and Deshaun Watson are also hoping Clemson will remove the name of John Calhoun from the school's honors college. Calhoun was an advocate for slavery and was a slaveowner himself in the 1800s.
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