HOOVER, Ala. – Missouri quarterback Kelly Bryant said he couldn’t have been more pleased watching his former teammates at Clemson beat Alabama for the 2018 national championship.

“Of course, I was with those guys for three and four years,” Bryant said on Monday during SEC Media Days. “I’m still friends with a lot of those guys, so at the end of the day, I was very happy for them and see them celebrate.”

It’s certainly been a whirlwind of a year for the graduate transfer.

This time a season ago, Bryant was getting ready for the start of the 2018 campaign as the starting quarterback for Clemson, which fell to Alabama in the 2017 NCAA semifinals.

The ACC Tigers started last year 4-0, but that’s when head coach Dabo Swinney turned to freshman sensation Trevor Lawrence, who ultimately led Clemson to its decisive victory over the Crimson Tide to win the national crown.

After carefully considering his options, including Arkansas, Bryant chose Missouri.

His reasons were simple.

“I had a really good relationship (with Arkansas), but Missouri was just a better fit,” Bryant said. “The relationships where there as well, put also, I looked at the players they had coming back. I just wanted to put myself in the best position to give myself a chance to win.”

On paper, the Tigers – who must navigate three straight trips on the road to Vanderbilt (Oct. 19), Kentucky (Oct. 26) and Georgia (No. 9) – return eight starters on offense from a team that went 8-5 last year, including a 4-4 mark in SEC play.

Unfortunately, shortly after he joined the Tigers, Missouri was hit with a one-year bowl ban by the NCAA stemming from alleged compliance violations by a tutor, a decision which has since been appealed.

The decision is currently being appealed.

“Even if we don’t (lose the appeal) we’ve still got 12 games to play and put our best foot forward,” Bryant said. “No matter what happens we’re going to prepare for the season like we always would.”

No matter what happens, Missouri coach Barry Odom is naturally excited to see what his new quarterback can do.

“As a coach, you always want to be a great teacher, that’s our job. But it’s also our job to put our kids in position to play well and use their skill set,” Odom said. “His skill set we think enables us to do some different things. He can help us in the vertical game, his intermediate play has improved but he’s also obviously able to hurt you with the quarterback run, which will also help our team.”

In the four games he did play for Clemson, Bryant completed 36 of 54 passes (66.7 percent) for 461 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 30 rushes for 130 yards and two score.

His junior year, Bryant completed 262 of 398 passes for 2,82 yards and 13 touchdowns while rushing for an additional 665 and 11 scores.

“He’s got the skill set to help us through the air and be able to help us gain an advantage in a number of different ways at the position,” Odom said. “We’re glad he’s on our team.” So is Bryant.

“I couldn’t be any happier with my decision,” he said. “The coaches are great, and it’s basically the same offense we ran at Clemson. With all that, it was definitely the right choice to make.”