Dabo Sweeney was touched by the kindness shown to the Bracey family at Louisiana Tech following the passing of Brian Bracey’s sister, Ella.
Ella Bresse, 15, died of brain cancer Thursday, and the Tigers’ star defensive end missed Saturday’s game, staying with his family over the loss of his sister. Bracey is scheduled to return to Clemson’s team on Sunday, Swinney said.
Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie and his team came out to celebrate Ella’s life on Saturday and send their condolences to the Bricey family. Cumby wore an “E11a Strong’ shirt on game day, and the Louisiana Tech team, including Cumby, each wrote handwritten letters to the Bracey family.
That certainly had an effect on Swinney when he talked about it after Clemson’s 48-20 win over Louisiana Tech.
“I just want to say how much Coach Cumbie and the La. Tech class just cheered me on tonight,” Swinney said in a wry voice. “It’s very encouraging. You will hear very bad things. You don’t get to hear the best very often. There is a lot of good, but unfortunately, the bad often gets the headlines.
“Man, I’m going to tell you as a man, I’m really pumped tonight. So Coach came out there and put on an ‘E11a Strong’ shirt and gave me a letter from Brian. Then after the game I got a letter from the whole team. The whole team took the time to write letters to Brian and his family.
“That’s the good thing about college football. I’ve never met Coach Cumbi but I’ll be his fan for life.
You can watch Sweeney’s comments below:
WATCH: Dabo Swinney on Coach Sonny Cumby and La. Tech celebrating the life of Ella Bracey and supporting the Bracey family. pic.twitter.com/rRuo5tFaQm
— Clemson Sports (@ClemsonSports) September 18, 2022
