10:00 AM ET ESPN staff After a second consecutive three-loss season, Dabo Swinney is remaking the Clemson program. Last year, the Tigers head coach promoted from within when previous organizers Brent Venables(Oklahoma )and Tony Elliott( Virginia)got head-coaching jobs.But after shooting offending planner Brandon Streeter on Thursday, ESPN sources state Swinney will call TCU’s Garrett Riley to the very same position. It is a shake-up at a program known for continuity– Swinney had not fired an assistant coach because 2011 before this move.Riley is fresh off winning the Broyles Award as the nation’s leading assistant while assisting direct the Horned Frogs to the national title game in his very first season in Fort Worth.What kind
of playcaller are the Tigers getting? What does it state about the state of Clemson? And what’s next for TCU? David M. Hale and Dave Wilson break it all down.What triggered this move from Clemson?It’s difficult to say Streeter was to blame for Clemson’s offensive issues in 2022. The fact is, in his first year as coordinator, Streeter really steered the offense to significantly better numbers than 2021.
However Streeter was also mostly an extension of Clemson’s past. He may not have been responsible for the recession, however it appeared clear he wasn’t going to steer things in a new– and needed– instructions. Instead, Swinney appears to have discovered someone in Riley who can add some severe spice to an offense that was, from an X’s and O’s viewpoint, quite vanilla. Vanilla worked with Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson and a host of NFL backs and receivers. Without them, vanilla has actually just looked … bland.Editor’s Picks
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However possibly the other big concern here is QB Cade Klubnik. After the stopped working DJ Uiagalelei experience, Clemson can not afford to see another blue-chip QB fall brief of expectations. That Klubnik couldn’t win the task throughout the regular season in spite of Uiagalelei’s hiccups, which his efficiency in the championship game revealed some severe freshman errors, too, there needs to be an idea that a modification needed to be made to ensure Klubnik’s skills aren’t wasted, and he can look more like Lawrence than Uiagalelei in 2023. Offered Riley’s success turning a solid-if-unspectacular QB in Max Duggan into a Heisman finalist, this is a “no reasons” move for Klubnik, too. — Hale
What does this say about where Swinney thinks the program is?It’s tough to know exactly what Swinney’s mindset is. He bristled at even the smallest criticisms last offseason when outsiders suggested his promotion of 2 in-house prospects to playcaller jobs– Streeter and Wes Goodwin– might’ve been too myopic. He invested nearly all of 2022 praising Uiagalelei, too, even lambasting the media for doubting the QB– then benched Uiagalelei three times throughout the season and confessed, after the ACC championship game, he ‘d been hoping Klubnik would take control of for weeks. Now he’s lastly backtracked on his persistence that Streeter was the right man for the OC task, and he’s headed out to land as big a fish as there is in the coordinator ranks. Possibly the real takeaway here is Swinney has a formula he thinks in, but he’s likewise clever adequate to know when something isn’t working. What remains to be seen, however, is whether this is the last of the personnel changes and, perhaps more importantly, if he moves his perspective on the transfer portal to address some roster constraints, too. — Hale
What sort of organizer is Clemson getting in Garrett Riley?Riley, like his bro Lincoln, was a quarterback under Mike Leach at Texas Tech, then began his coaching profession in modest style, as a QB coach at a West Texas high school, then at places like Augustana, East Carolina, Kansas and Appalachian State, where he was running backs coach. TCU coach Sonny Dykes believed he matched his own passing philosophies with an in-depth running game plan, so he elevated him to OC/QB coach and the main playcaller at SMU. In his very first season in 2020, with Shane Buechele at QB, the Mustangs averaged 38.6 points per game, 15th nationally. The next year, with Oklahoma transfer Tanner Mordecai at QB, the offense ranked 10th, led the AAC in passing and balanced 38.4 ppg. Then, in his very first year at TCU, he helped turn Duggan, a four-year starter who had actually never ever tossed for more than 2,100 yards or 16 TDs in a season, into a Heisman runner-up who had 3,698 backyards and 32 TDs. Riley is a patient playcaller who isn’t all flash, but instead blends a power running attack– Kendre Miller ran for more than 1,200 yards between the tackles this season– with a simplified Air Raid passing scheme to use defenses down and pop huge plays. Riley has currently worked marvels in simply 3 seasons as a coordinator.– Wilson What is very first agenda for Riley at Clemson?Riley requires to examine everything. All 5 on-field offensive assistants, prior to Streeter’s
firing, were without FBS training experience aside from their time at Clemson. Will Riley want to keep that personnel undamaged? Clemson’s getting corps has actually stopped working to develop young skill in the last few years, and in each of the past two seasons, the offense has relied heavily on real freshmen. Might there be alternatives in the website to assist include some veteran existence? Will Shipley is a budding star, but his usage under Streeter was constantly a bit odd. Riley will need to determine how to optimize such an important weapon. The offending line showed some flashes of improvement under first-year line coach Thomas Austin last season, however it likewise surrendered 26 pressures in the Capital One Orange Bowl against Tennessee. But again, no problem looms larger for Riley than turning Klubnik from the freshman with possible into another Heisman prospect. The fate of the Clemson offense will be as much about that relationship as any changes to the offensive scheme.– Hale Where does TCU go from here?Dykes has a vision for what he needs in a planner. In his very first 5 years as a head coach, he had Tony Franklin, a long time Air Raid assistant, running the offense. Since then, he’s mentored young coaches, like Jake Spavital at Cal and Rhett Lashlee at SMU, who
both became head coaches. Regardless of Dykes ‘own background as a playcaller, his assistants have freedom in game preparation and playcalling, making the job an appealing one. In nine of the previous 11 seasons, Dykes ‘offenses have ranked no lower than 22nd, with 3 top-10 performances. He has a network of options as the Air Raid has multiplied across college football. This position is one he can handle with confidence.– Wilson
