One Clemson football player feels he has no other choice but to leave the sport.
In the span of one year, Bryton Constantin suffered a torn ACL on three different occasions. The first in February of 2019 while he was still in high school. The second in September of last year after he had already signed with Clemson football. And the third in February of this year.
Five months after his latest major knee injury, the linebacker announced on Twitter that he has decided to step away from the sport. Presumably, that would be a permanent decision.
“Thank you God for allowing football to take me this far in life, but everything must come to an end eventually,” Constantin wrote. “As many of you know I’ve been battling 3 ACL surgeries over the past 1½ years and it has slowly taken away my passion to step on the field again. It also made me think of my future health a lot more and look out for myself in 10+ years.
“With that being said, I will be stepping away from playing this game. I will still be enrolled at Clemson and on the team but just helping out in other ways.”
21 out. pic.twitter.com/bvKGD8ScOE
— Bryton Constantin (@Kxng_Bryton) July 27, 2020
Constantin will remain on scholarship. He won’t, though, count against the Clemson football program’s 85-man limit.
A four-star member of the Tigers’ 2019 recruiting class, Constantin was rated as the No. 8 outside linebacker in the country. The Baton Rouge native was also rated as the No. 11 recruit in the state of Louisiana regardless of position.
Obviously, Constantine didn’t play a down for the Tigers. In his lone season on the roster, though, he earned an ACC Honor Roll selection for his classroom work.