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Clemson punter Andy Teasdall hoping to avoid spotlight vs. Oklahoma

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Clemson punter Andy Teasdall has had one moment in the spotlight.

Let’s just say he probably never wants to have another.

Teasdall went from anonymous special-teamer to the talk of the ACC championship game earlier this month after going rogue and attempting a fake punt all on his own late in the second quarter against North Carolina.

The play failed. When Teasdall trotted back to the sideline, coach Dabo Swinney let him have it, screaming, "What are you doing? Punt that ball!" He grabbed Teasdall by the jersey and continued to gesture wildly, a moment that soon went viral as cameras followed along.

The rant continued as Teasdall took a seat on the bench and looked straight at Swinney with a blank expression.

For those accustomed to seeing Swinney cutting up with players in the locker room after games, the tirade seemed completely out of character.

Teasdall, however, accepted responsibility for the mistake. During media day Tuesday prior to the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl, Teasdall addressed what happened for the first time, saying, “If I was in his shoes, I would have probably done the same thing.”

“I just made a mistake, and that’s all I can say about it,” Teasdall said. “I’ve moved on from it. I shouldn’t have done it. Stuff happens. I know everything happens for a reason. God never says oops. It happens.”

Teasdall knew the clip went viral after the game. Though he stayed off social media, he heard about angry responses. “There was one thing about me not being able to go to the pizza party. In fact, I was at the pizza party,” Teasdall said dryly.

So what exactly happened on the fake punt?

“I looked up and read the defense a little bit to feel the pressure and everyone’s running to the right,” Teasdall said. “I felt a little pressure and just ran to the left.”

He came up well short. North Carolina ended up scoring off the blunder, though Clemson eventually won the game and secured their spot in the College Football Playoff. On Thursday, Teasdall will take the field for the first time since the outburst seen around the college football world.

“I’ve played sports growing up, I’ve been yelled at before,” Teasdall said. “I feel like everyone has. I feel like everyone should at some point -- part of the process, part of life. I think the media blew it out of proportion. I love Coach Swinney, he loves me, it happens. It just happened to be on national television.”

Though the way Swinney reacted took some by surprise, Clemson players could relate to Teasdall. Swinney is as competitive as any coach. Yes, he does the Dab, but he also has his moments when he gets fired up and starts yelling.

“He’s been that mad at me before,” linebacker Ben Boulware said. “After the Wake Forest game when I was celebrating, he went off on me, so I experienced that firsthand. He definitely went off on Andy. It happens. He was just trying to make a play. It obviously didn’t work out the way he wanted to, but I know how he feels.”

Swinney offered no apologies for laying into his punter, regretting only that cameras happened to catch him in the heat of the moment.

“We had a little, ‘I love you,’ and ‘I love you back,’ session,” Swinney said after the game. “He got dialed back in. But there was no fake punt. It was just a young man making a really bad play. That’s all I can say.”

Teasdall said that the poor impression he made on viewers last time he was in a game does not give him an extra incentive to perform well against Oklahoma.

“I’m going to do what I’ve been doing all year and not make it any bigger,” Teasdall said.