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Years and years from now, if Dabo Swinney hangs it up and decides to write a book about his life, you can bet a chapter will be devoted to what unfolded late this week.

We would bet there were times over the last six or seven years when Swinney himself contemplated the possibility of Nick Saban retiring and "mama calling," as Bear Bryant famously said upon leaving Texas A&M for Alabama in 1958, and thought to himself that he might end up going at some point.

Were there also plenty of times when he thought Clemson was home and there's no way he could ever leave this place, his baby? Of course there were.

But then the retirement happens out of nowhere late one afternoon, and the next morning you're fielding a phone call to gauge your interest in the job at Alabama.

And then everything starts to get really real. And really heavy.

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