Dabo Swinney says Clemson may have mistakenly provided PEDs

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Clemson may have mistakenly provided performance-enhancing drugs to players, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney acknowledged to The Post and Courier on Saturday.

Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, offensive lineman Zach Giella and tight end Braden Galloway failed an NCAA drug test ahead of the College Football Playoff Semifinal against Notre Dame in December and did not play in the postseason after testing positive for ostarine, a banned substance.

“Oh yeah, I mean, there’s a chance that it could come from anything,” Swinney said when asked if it’s possible the players ingested ostarine in a Clemson-issued supplement. “They’re going to test everything and look at everything. And that’s the problem. As you really look at this stuff, it could be a contaminant that came from anything, that was something that was cleared and not a problem, and all of a sudden, it becomes there was something.”

https://247sports.com/Article/Dabo-...-may-have-mistakenly-provided-PEDs-128909527/

Go Gophers!!
 

Taken out of context, that line doesn’t make Swinney look great. Wonder if they tested all of Clemson’s players?
 

I am pretty sure we had a similar issue when Mason was the coach. Players have to be really careful about supplements.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
 

Considering the poor quality and unlisted ingredients of many supplements and the shoddy quality control of some manufacturing facilities I would imagine head coaches or athletic departments explicitly ban their athletes from supplementing unless a) it is known for efficacy b) issued from the school c) sourced from a quality supplier.
 

They don't need supplements. Real food is plenty good.

Rather, would suspect for these big time programs, smaller supplement brands practically beg these teams to take pallets of free crap, just so the brand can say "we're affiliated with Clemson football", etc.

Team assumes it's just a protein shake, gives them out to players .... whoops!
 


Considering the poor quality and unlisted ingredients of many supplements and the shoddy quality control of some manufacturing facilities I would imagine head coaches or athletic departments explicitly ban their athletes from supplementing unless a) it is known for efficacy b) issued from the school c) sourced from a quality supplier.

100% correct ... in what they SHOULD do. Will they? It's business, so probably not.
 

Considering the poor quality and unlisted ingredients of many supplements and the shoddy quality control of some manufacturing facilities I would imagine head coaches or athletic departments explicitly ban their athletes from supplementing unless a) it is known for efficacy b) issued from the school c) sourced from a quality supplier.

I am sure the training staff hated reading Dabo's comments. There are people on staff who's job it is to make sure the supplements they give the players are legal and approved by the NCAA. They would have to be complete fools to issue unapproved supplements to the players directly from the team.

Looking at the comments with the story it sounds like the substance they tested positive for is not found very commonly at all so Dabo saying they might have given it to them on accident is just him trying to stick up for his players.

What they can't of course control is what players do on their own. If the substance had come from the team more than just 3 players would have failed the drug test.
 

Yeah but, there is no FDA regulation of supplements.

Staff guy looks at the ingredient list, sees no banned substances, gives it out to players. Except ... oh whoops, the company threw in some extra crap that wasn't on the label. Welp, that's not illegal .... they're unregulated.
 

I am sure the training staff hated reading Dabo's comments. There are people on staff who's job it is to make sure the supplements they give the players are legal and approved by the NCAA. They would have to be complete fools to issue unapproved supplements to the players directly from the team.

Looking at the comments with the story it sounds like the substance they tested positive for is not found very commonly at all so Dabo saying they might have given it to them on accident is just him trying to stick up for his players.

What they can't of course control is what players do on their own. If the substance had come from the team more than just 3 players would have failed the drug test.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s always the theoretic chance of some mild cross-contamination with a lot of caveats but I’d hope the testing limit accounts for that possibility.

Beyond that, if players choose to fall for marketing hype and hearsay the stupid games/stupid prizes clause applies. Just don’t do it.
 



If you want to get paranoid about this all, watch Icarus on Netflix. Wonderful film about his type of thing
 


Movie watch: Mods move this post to Son's Huddle report today.

Every high school , junior college and D1 college that I have been associated with took supplements of some sort. The Clemenson coach is correct, unless you do an investigative study if each and every item,you really have to rely on the manufacturer to be correct as to the ingredients. It is sad in a way. Sometimes kids(and coaches) want to shortcut the process by using supplements rather “using” hard work. Sign of the times.
 

Considering the poor quality and unlisted ingredients of many supplements and the shoddy quality control of some manufacturing facilities I would imagine head coaches or athletic departments explicitly ban their athletes from supplementing unless a) it is known for efficacy b) issued from the school c) sourced from a quality supplier.

I know many MLB teams give players a list of approved supplements and ban anything not on the list. The approved supplements are all tested and I believe they look into their QC programs as well.

I'm surprised that isn't a standard across professional and collegiate sports. Supplements are known for being unreliable. If they just saw the label said it was free of banned substances and assumed it must be true, it's hard to feel bad for them.
 



Reminds me of this: https://youtu.be/HnW4uVvIVY4

Basically anything can be in the "Proprietary Blend" and the company doesn't have to tell anyone what's in it. Not saying that happened in this case, but totally possible that something was in a supplement in the "Proprietary Blend" and no one did any further testing for banned substances before giving it to players.
 

Every high school , junior college and D1 college that I have been associated with took supplements of some sort. The Clemenson coach is correct, unless you do an investigative study if each and every item,you really have to rely on the manufacturer to be correct as to the ingredients. It is sad in a way. Sometimes kids(and coaches) want to shortcut the process by using supplements rather “using” hard work. Sign of the times.

The NCAA tests and provides lists of approved and banned substances to schools. For an NCAA school there is zero guesswork involved in terms of what supplements the players can and can not take. If the staff is not sure on a new supplement they have a means of having it checked to make sure it is legal.

Obviously that will not be the same at the high school level or small colleges but for Clemson there shouldn't have been any chance the team gave the substance to the players unless their training staff is just totally incompetent or they are just that desperate to cheat.

And as I said in a different post, if the team issued the tainted supplements way more then 3 players would have failed the drug test.
 
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They don't need supplements. Real food is plenty good.

Rather, would suspect for these big time programs, smaller supplement brands practically beg these teams to take pallets of free crap, just so the brand can say "we're affiliated with Clemson football", etc.

Team assumes it's just a protein shake, gives them out to players .... whoops!

Supplements make an enormous difference. They make a huge difference for average joes like me, I couldn't imagine how big of a difference they make for high end athletes.
 

Every high school , junior college and D1 college that I have been associated with took supplements of some sort. The Clemenson coach is correct, unless you do an investigative study if each and every item,you really have to rely on the manufacturer to be correct as to the ingredients. It is sad in a way. Sometimes kids(and coaches) want to shortcut the process by using supplements rather “using” hard work. Sign of the times.

Oh yeah, me and my high school football buddies were taking a whole bunch of stuff that's all banned now - Androstenedione, Ephedra, random "testosterone boosters". All from the GNC in the late 90s. None of us were D1 prospects.
 

Supplements make an enormous difference. They make a huge difference for average joes like me, I couldn't imagine how big of a difference they make for high end athletes.

Very skeptical of your statement. You'll have to explain how/why supplements are making a big difference in your life that food can't do just as well. Beyond the laziness factor.

Plus it's likely you're taking something that would be banned.
 

The NCAA tests and provides lists of approved and banned substances to schools. For an NCAA school there is zero guesswork involved in terms of what supplements the players can and can not take.

The NCAA gives a list of banned substances. I doubt they test every supplement product/brand that comes out on the market with a molecular analysis to determine if it contains any banned substances.

But regardless, even if they did ...... the point is that the FDA does not regulate supplements. So the company can throw anything into any product at any time, as it pleases. There is no recourse. It's just buyer beware.
 

The list of banned substances is crazy long for athletes. One year I took a pre workout and it was perfectly fine, and then the next I happened to catch it on the list luckily. As most have pointed out its tough to know if labels are correct or not. It says on everything that you take that this product hasn't been certified. People can say you don't need to take any supplements, but when you have to get up at 5:30 every morning for workouts. A little pre-workout is very much needed.
 

The list of banned substances is crazy long for athletes. One year I took a pre workout and it was perfectly fine, and then the next I happened to catch it on the list luckily. As most have pointed out its tough to know if labels are correct or not. It says on everything that you take that this product hasn't been certified. People can say you don't need to take any supplements, but when you have to get up at 5:30 every morning for workouts. A little pre-workout is very much needed.

OK ... but for what purpose? As a stimulant? Coffee does that. Caffeine is actually the main active ingredient in a lot of these pre workout drinks. If it’s sometting other than caffeine, to get you “jacked” or whatever .... beware!!! Lot of that crap is banned.
 

OK ... but for what purpose? As a stimulant? Coffee does that. Caffeine is actually the main active ingredient in a lot of these pre workout drinks. If it’s sometting other than caffeine, to get you “jacked” or whatever .... beware!!! Lot of that crap is banned.

To be honest, most of the time you don't even have time to make coffee. Any extra minutes of sleep is golden. A lot of pre-workouts get the muscles going much faster than coffee, so by the time you get to the facility your muscles are ready to go and you're not dragging in your workout. Even caffeine at a dose past 500 MG could cause a failed drug test. As a college athlete, you need to be consistently looking at what you are taking if you don't want to be concerned about testing, which half of the athletes are not.
 

To be honest, most of the time you don't even have time to make coffee. Any extra minutes of sleep is golden. A lot of pre-workouts get the muscles going much faster than coffee, so by the time you get to the facility your muscles are ready to go and you're not dragging in your workout. Even caffeine at a dose past 500 MG could cause a failed drug test. As a college athlete, you need to be consistently looking at what you are taking if you don't want to be concerned about testing, which half of the athletes are not.

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Caffeine is good, adderrall is better. Of course, it’s banned without a legitimate prescription. It can also contribute to dying under the right circumstances. Personally if I need to get amped reading Gopherhole is usually reliable for a shot of adrenaline to get me started.
 

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Caffeine is good, adderrall is better. Of course, it’s banned without a legitimate prescription. It can also contribute to dying under the right circumstances. Personally if I need to get amped reading Gopherhole is usually reliable for a shot of adrenaline to get me started.

:clap: I'll agree that Gopherhole works just as well. It usually doesn't take to long reading posts to get that adrenaline rush either.
 

The NCAA gives a list of banned substances. I doubt they test every supplement product/brand that comes out on the market with a molecular analysis to determine if it contains any banned substances.

But regardless, even if they did ...... the point is that the FDA does not regulate supplements. So the company can throw anything into any product at any time, as it pleases. There is no recourse. It's just buyer beware.

Which is why the schools make it very clear to the players what supplements they can take and if there is a new one they want to take they have it tested first.

I agree that it is not well regulated and anything can happen my only contention was with Dabo trying to throw his staff under the bus. They have the means to make sure that what they give the players is legal so if they are not doing that they are idiots.

These guys tried to get away with taking something extra and got busted. Unless it comes out that they were taking a supplement that was approved by the NCAA and it caused the failed test, the reality is almost certainly that they were taking something they were not supposed to and got caught.
 

Just out today: https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm626349.htm

“This action is part of a broader effort we have underway to re-examine our resources and authorities related to products marketed as dietary supplements, and outline a new policy on how we intend to more vigorously fulfill our obligations to protect consumers from dangerous products and unlawful claims. We’ll have more to say on our policy efforts very soon. The bottom line is this: we’ve seen growing instances where profiteers are pushing potentially dangerous compounds – often with unproven drug claims and crossing the line when it comes to what defines a dietary supplement. These potentially illegal activities put the entire dietary supplement industry at risk by confusing consumers, harming patients and tainting good dietary supplement products by associating them with the activities of bad actors,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D.


This is something that has been talked about forever ..... but suddenly, down comes the hammer. Is it possible that pissed off Clemson boosters got in people's ears about this and turned up the heat??
 


Which is why the schools make it very clear to the players what supplements they can take and if there is a new one they want to take they have it tested first.

I agree that it is not well regulated and anything can happen my only contention was with Dabo trying to throw his staff under the bus. They have the means to make sure that what they give the players is legal so if they are not doing that they are idiots.

These guys tried to get away with taking something extra and got busted. Unless it comes out that they were taking a supplement that was approved by the NCAA and it caused the failed test, the reality is almost certainly that they were taking something they were not supposed to and got caught.

I don't believe the NCAA approves specific supplements - they provide a list of banned ingredients. The problem is, any company can randomly change ingredients without updating labels or letting anyone know.

Regardless if the NCAA does or not, the scenario of manufacturers changing the recipe is what happened to Kevin and Pat Williams from the Vikings several years ago. They were taking StarCaps, a diuretic previously recommended by the NFL to lose weight. StarCaps had changed their recipe and not told anyone, both got busted and got suspended by the league for banned substance. During the appeal, they proved the substance was in the StarCaps and provided the letter recommending it from the NFL. Court ended up tossing the appeal, basically saying it was the players' responsibility under the CBA (also tried to say MN bans punishing someone for taking something legal but that got tossed as well).

For those saying it couldn't be because it's only three players, couple thoughts:

1. Most schools don't do 100% testing
2. Not all players take the same supplements, especially if it's weight loss/weight gain type stuff
3. It may have only been part of a bottle or mislabeled bottle(s). The manufacturer literally can fill a bottle partway with whatever's left from the last batch of pills and fill the rest with the desired product. Or can not time changing the labels with the actual change in product. Again, no FDA oversight, this is completely unregulated. I'm sure the players don't just get a pill a day. They're given a certain quantity at a time (week? month?), so it is distinctly possible they were given enough tainted pills in one of these scenarios to fail, yet nobody else did.

I understand the most likely scenario is that they took something on their own and failed the test because of it. I'm just saying that's not the only possible scenario.

I don't think Dabo was trying to throw his trainers under the bus, I think he's trying to help the kids and make it look like the school doesn't try to cheat.
 




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