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DALLAS, Texas -- Five days ago, Clemson held its last practice of on-campus bowl workouts and then everyone went their separate ways.

From Wednesday night until Sunday, everyone was free to have a leisurely time and enjoy an early Christmas with family and friends.

But the past five days have been anything but enjoyable for Dabo Swinney, high-ranking members of Clemson's athletics department and the university's legal counsel.

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On Thursday, the first day of the aforementioned mini-vacation, the NCAA came forth with a bombshell:

Three players -- Dexter Lawrence, Braden Galloway and Zach Giella -- had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug called Ostarine.

The NCAA has a threshold with certain drugs, say marijuana. Meaning a player can have a small trace of that drug in his system but still not fail a drug test.

Not so with PEDs, for which the NCAA has a zero-tolerance policy. A mere trace, and you're done.

Everything Tigerillustrated.com gathered from trusted sources confirms Swinney's account that minuscule amounts of Ostarine came up in the tests of the aforementioned three players.

The bottom line right now: Even as Swinney and others hold out hope that a second sample will show no trace of the drug, the strong likelihood is that it will be similar to the first sample. That would mean the three players would not play in Saturday's Cotton Bowl against Notre Dame.

While the result from the second sample is expected Wednesday or Thursday, we are told Clemson officials are devoting almost all of their efforts to an appeal that would allow the three players to be available for a possible national championship on Jan. 7, should the Tigers win Saturday.

Lawrence, of course, is the marquee name of this group. His absence from the playoff could be a very big deal, even though Clemson is lavished with gobs of talent on the defensive line without him.

Galloway probably wasn't going to play much anyway. But the issue with him lies beyond this season; the NCAA suspension is one year, which would mean he'd miss the 2019 season barring successful appeal.

Our sources say Swinney informed the team of the news last night upon arrival to Dallas. We are told Monday morning was spent trying to assess how to address the situation publicly. Swinney went the full-disclosure route, opting to give a comprehensive accounting of the situation after a question from Tigerillustrated.com during his pre-practice press conference.

Another possible route would've been to merely say the three players had been suspended for a violation of team rules, but the fallout from that could've been worse because it invites speculation about what the players did and suggests Swinney is trying to hide something.

According to a source, it took considerable wrangling with the NCAA to sign off on the players making the trip. The basis was the remaining uncertainty surrounding the B sample. Clemson pushed for the three to make the trip so they could be a part of the team amid the festivities during the run-up to the game.

We are told the staff is preparing as if the three will not be available. All three were present and dressed for practice today at AT&T Stadium, but the plan moving forward will have Albert Huggins getting a lot of work in Lawrence's place.

For Clemson, the NCAA's timing couldn't have been much worse. The news of the positive tests came right before the weekend, which is followed by Christmas Eve today and tomorrow's holiday. Thus the delay for the B-sample results until later this week.

On top of all this, Clemson is sifting through every piece of information possible to try to figure out how the small amount of Ostarine could've shown up. They're now examining the finer print of hair products, acne cream, supplements, even the food that is served to the team in the dining hall of the football facility.

Three years ago, Swinney reacted swiftly and angrily when Deon Cain and others failed NCAA-mandated drug tests. He sent them home from Orange Bowl workouts and kicked Ammon Lakip off the team while saying Cain was one more strike from the same fate.

This case seems much different. Befuddlement seems to be the word of the past five days as the powers at Clemson have tried to sort through it all, with little success.

Tigerillustrated.com will have more on this story as information becomes available.

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