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Clemson's PED suspension appeal denied; 2 players will miss all of 2019 season

Braden Galloway and Zach Giella's suspensions have been upheld.
Both Braden Galloway and Zach Giella will miss the 2019 season. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Clemson’s appeal of the suspensions of two current football players has been denied.

The school announced Friday that tight end Braden Galloway and offensive lineman Zach Giella would miss the 2019 season. The two players, along with defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, were suspended before the College Football Playoff after testing positive for ostarine. Those suspensions were upheld right before the playoff after the B samples of all three players came back positive as well.

Despite the suspension, Lawrence was a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL draft. Clemson has contended that the players did not knowingly take a banned substance.

“We are disappointed in the results of the appeal and continue to believe our student-athletes did not knowingly ingest any banned substances,” a Clemson statement said. “The Athletic Department takes seriously its role in the education, testing and enforcement of supplement and performance-enhancing substances. We will continue to adhere to best practices with respect to supplement use by student-athletes and support the position of the NCAA in its testing for PEDs.”

“Student-athletes at Clemson have taken 329 tests for PEDs since 2014, and all results have been negative except for the trace amounts found during the December 2018 tests. The two current student-athletes were tested prior to the December test, including in April and October of 2018 and again in January and February of 2019, and results came back negative for PEDs. Clemson maintains a rigorous education and testing program, and all supplements are reviewed with Clemson Athletics Nutrition and Sports Medicine as well as the Clemson Compliance Office prior to approval for usage to ensure that no banned substances are included in the products.”

Ostarine is a banned substance by WADA

Galloway and Giella were backups in 2018. Lawrence’s suspension had the most potential effect on the field, but Clemson did just fine without him. The Tigers blew out Notre Dame and then soundly beat Alabama to win the national title.

In February, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said the school was looking at everything to figure out how and why the players tested positive. Swinney left open the possibility that the players took a tainted supplement that had been cleared for use by the school.

The suspension is most impactful for Giella, who was a member of Clemson’s 2015 recruiting class. He’s set to be a redshirt senior in his final season of eligibility in 2019. Galloway was a member of Clemson’s 2018 recruiting class. Both were three-star recruits when they signed with the Tigers.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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