What If Clemson’s Offense Is Much Improved? ESPN Analyst Weighs In

What if Clemson’s offense is greatly improved in 2024?

ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy — who will be the color commentator for Saturday’s Week 1 matchup between No. 14 Clemson and No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta (12 p.m., ABC) — addressed the aforementioned question on his Always College Football show.

McElroy weighed in on how the Tigers’ offense could fare this season — and what that could mean for the team’s overall outlook.

“I like Clemson’s defense,” McElroy said. “I always like Clemson’s defense. And if the offense is getting after them in practice right now, maybe they’re going to be a whole lot better than we anticipate heading into this year, and if they are, look out. Clemson could find their way back into the playoff mix sooner than later.”

Of course, Clemson is entering its second season with Garrett Riley as the offensive coordinator, and second season with Cade Klubnik as the full-time starting quarterback.

“You hear in the spring, there was a lot of buzz about Cade Klubnik’s improvement, and then in the spring game, things kind of fell flat, right,” McElroy said. “The star of the show was Trent Pearman, the backup quarterback, former walk-on. Well, you fast forward to fall camp, and you’re hearing the same stuff about Clemson’s offense and how they’ve performed up to this point of fall camp.

“You’re hearing the Garrett Riley system has really started to take root. You’re hearing that Cade Klubnik has been more willing to use his legs and to step up in the pocket and be more decisive when evading different defenders and cutting it loose in the right direction. You’ve heard about his progress from a ball security standpoint. Sounds like to me, Clemson’s offense might be better in ‘24 than we originally thought.”

Along with Klubnik and Riley, McElroy pointed to Phil Mafah at running back, as well as Clemson’s offensive line and receiving corps, as reasons why the Tigers’ offense might be much improved this season.

“First of all, Cade Klubnik was a blue-chip player, and we jumped to conclusions last year about what he will become, more so than we probably should have,” McElroy said. “People were suggesting that he’s not the guy, six starts into his career. How do you know? Did Bo Nix look like the guy six starts into his career (at Auburn) in 2019? Probably not. I’m sure it was a bunch of ups and downs. That’s what happens when you play a young quarterback at the position and he’s inexperienced.

“But they’ve now leaned a little bit more towards a ground-and-pound approach. Phil Mafah being inserted into the lineup at running back down the stretch last year really opened things up, and he might be a guy that gets 20, 25 carries a game. And it sounds like the offensive line, which has not always been a position group that’s just going to physically impose their will — that’s not who Clemson has been in the past — but it sounds like that group is looking more and more like a group that could be a group that dictates terms with some of the guys they have along their offensive line. It’s really encouraging. It sounds like that group is vastly improved this upcoming year. …

“Then you think about the wideouts. While Antonio Williams was up-and-down last year, two years ago he was a game-changer. You look at Tyler Brown early on in his career last year as a true freshman, he looked really good and then things leveled off. Now he’s healthy again. You look at Adam Randall, it sounds like he’s starting to become a big factor because he’s physically imposing on the perimeter. It sounds like this wide receiver group, a group that’s been really inconsistent these last couple years, it sounds like they’re collectively taking the step as well.”

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