FORT LAUDERDALE – Dabo Swinney spent most of his morning at the Orange Bowl head coaches press conference downplaying the suspensions to Deon Cain, Ammon Lakip and Jay Jay McCullough.

Swinney was asked if the suspensions, which were a result of failed drug tests, have become a distraction for the team, which is just over 24 hours from playing Oklahoma in the first half of the College Football Playoff semifinal.

“Why would it be a distraction? It doesn’t have anything to do — Jay Jay McCullough, Lakip and Deon don’t have anything to do with Shaq Lawson and how he plays this game,” Swinney said. “Doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of those guys…it’s a distraction for me, because I have to answer questions about three guys that break our rules and I have to deal with it, but that comes with my job.”

Cain has 34 catches for 582 yards and five touchdowns. Like the other two players, his suspension would carry over to the national championship game, if Clemson wins on Thursday.

“Deon will have an opportunity to come back to school and rejoin the team at some point if he does what he needs to do,” Swinney said. “If he doesn’t, then he won’t. It’s pretty simple.”

Lakip, who’s a senior, has made all seven extra-point attempts in 2015. Since coming off his three-game suspension to start the season, he’s also handled kickoff duties.

McCullough has played 98 snaps over 12 games as a reserve tight end, but does not have a catch. Swinney said McCullough is on track to graduate from Clemson by the end of the summer. Though he will still have eligibility for one more season, his playing career as a Tiger is over.

“We’ve got 115 guys and 112 of them do what’s right and three of them didn’t, but they forfeited the opportunity to be apart of the game,” Swinney said. “I really hate it for them. They’re the ones that really have to live with the consequences, because they’re missing out on a great opportunity.”

He added, “It’s unfortunate that three guys get the headlines, but the headlines aren’t about all the other good things that all the other 112 guys have done, but that’s the way society is, too, so it comes with the territory.”

The drug tests were not administered by the NCAA.

“Those aren’t bad kids. They didn’t go out and rob a bank or anything. They’re not bad guys, but they forfeited their opportunity. It’s a privilege,” Swinney said. “We have rules. I don’t make all the rules. I only enforce them. If you break them, you put me in a situation where we’re going to do what’s right. That I know.

“Oftentimes, it’s easier to do the wrong thing, but it’s always best to do what’s right. That’s what we’re going to always do in this program, regardless of what people think or want to write. That’s just the way it is.”