Paul Tyson strives to live up to family name, even if he has to wrestle a bear

Paul Tyson saw his first playing time of his Clemson career last week, after stops at Alabama and Arizona State.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Sep 14 07:00:04 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Paul Tyson will do whatever it takes to uphold his family’s honor, even if that means wrestling a bear.

Tyson is a graduate transfer quarterback for the Tigers who spent three seasons at Alabama and one at Arizona State before deciding in the offseason to finish his career in Clemson. He understands his role on the team – he’s third team behind starter Cade Klubnik and veteran Hunter Helms – is to provide leadership and maturity to the younger players.

He saw his first action of the season in Saturday’s victory over Charleston Southern, completing 3-of-3 passes for 42 yards and a touchdown.

Tyson said earlier this week he knows that this is where he’s supposed to be.

“I think Coach Swinney wanted me to come here and fill a role that he thought was best for me. I felt like this is a situation that was best for me where I can be in the moment and be the best possible person I can for this team and help them at all costs,” Tyson said. “I feel like each day that's my goal coming in this facility. I want to improve and help the team in any way that I possibly can. I think coming here, I definitely knew that in mind, and that's what I've been wanting to do ever since.”

Tyson thinks he might want to get into coaching one day, and if he decides to do so, he knows it runs in the family bloodline. His great-grandfather is Paul “Bear” Bryant, the legendary coach of the Crimson Tide. Tyson was named after Bryant – his full name is Paul William Bryant Tyson.

Tyson strives to live up to the name.

“It's just such an honor. A lot of people can come at you from different type of ways and say, ‘There's a lot of pressure here. You need to live up to this.’ But it really just made me think how blessed I was to be in this situation,” Tyson said. “It gave me an opportunity to love football, and it brought me to really who I am today and probably did help me wanting to get into coaching as well. I think overall, it just was such an honor growing up. I was always pulling for Alabama because of him. It was really cool just to have him in my life and just knowing about him. Obviously, I didn't get to meet him, but it really has had a lasting impact on who I am today.

“I heard so many stories. Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, I'm just an hour away from Tuscaloosa, so I would go to games and stuff as kids. You hear so many stories from past players. Even when I was playing there and even playing here, there's some staff members know stories about my great-grandfather. It's really cool just to be able to hear the different sides of stories, the perspective that they have, because obviously I never got a chance to meet him. It never built pressure or never anything like that. It was just an honor to have in my life and so special to think about that I never got a chance to meet him, but he made such a lasting impact on so many people's lives that it makes me want to do the same thing for others as well.”

Bear Bryant earned his nickname when he was just 13 years old, and he wrestled a bear in a carnival for the chance to earn $1. Bryant wrestled the bear and was bitten on the ear. He didn’t get his dollar but did earn the nickname that would follow him the rest of his life.

Tyson laughed when he was asked if he would wrestle a bear.

“I have to feel like I'd have to if my great-grandfather did,” Tyson said. “I couldn't shy away from it, but I'm not going to go out of my way to go fight one, that's for sure.”