Potential first-round draft pick Bryan Bresee plans to celebrate with his Clemson teammates before making any decisions about his future.

Bresee, a junior and former five-star recruit, said Wednesday his focus is on the No. 7 Tigers beating No. 6 Tennessee on Friday in the Orange Bowl.

He has eight sacks in 20 career starts, but is considering a potential return for 2023 along with defensive lineman K.J. Henry. Henry, also playing Friday, said he’s undecided about what’s next but has accepted an invitation to the Senior Bowl.

Breese played four games in 2021 before an ACL tear ended his season. The ACC Rookie of the Year in 2020 rebounded as a junior in 2022 and was voted All-ACC for the second time.

“Definitely knowing some people that are coming back, just playing with them again could be special,” Bresee said. “At the end of the day though, it’s important to know what’s best for me and just sit down with my family and talk about it once the season is over and kind of make a decision then. Right now, I’m focused on playing Tennessee. I haven’t even really thought about it yet.”

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said he knows there are players participating in the game who plan to enter the NFL draft soon after. But Bresee said Wednesday “not me, I haven’t talked to him” about the draft.

“We’ve got several guys that we thought would be leaving Clemson that are going to stay at Clemson,” Swinney said. “That’s also a sign when you see guys could go ahead and go to the pros, all this stuff that’s going on in college football, to chose to want to stay I think shows how they feel about Clemson, how they feel about their coaches and who we are as a program.”

–Field Level Media