Comfort Level Leading to Clemson Offense Playing Faster

Learning a new scheme can be tricky for a football team.

Last season, during Garrett Riley’s first season running the Clemson offense, the Tigers experienced plenty of ups and downs in the new system. The unit was a model of inconsistency at times, particularly in the passing game.

However, now that the players have a season in the new offense under their belts, the expectation is to see an increase in production. Tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Kyle Richardson said the staff was already seeing signs of improvement back in the spring.

“I think from a standpoint of the the offensive coaches, as they went and we’ve gone into spring, you can just see that they feel a lot more comfortable in quote unquote, year two of the system for them,” Richardson said at Clemson’s annual media day.

There is now a comfort level that that was not there a season ago. From the assistants down to the players.

With that comfort level comes familiarity and that is allowing the players to play more freely.

“All that trickles down to to your offensive play,” Richardson said. “I just saw this spring, just felt like we played faster. And we don’t have a slow team. So if you’re playing faster and you see that, it’s because mentally it’s slowed down. They’re not bogged down in the details because those details are figured out.”

Clemson ranked just 77th in passing offense in Riley’s first season, averaging 213.7 yards per game. That’s a substantial drop from 2022 when the Tigers passed for 232.2 yards per game.

The offense was a little better running the ball, ranking 51st in rushing offense at 166 yards per game. That was down from the 180.8 yards per contest the running game averaged in 2022.

With fall camp set to kick off on Thursday, Clemson is set to continue the quest of getting the offense back on track and improve upon those numbers. If the spring is any indication, Richardson believes that is exactly what is going to transpire.

“I think you’re gonna see, we’re gonna take steps just like you would in any profession,” he said. “Hopefully. We’re working to do that. And this group has.”

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