Swinney says there's no leash on Garrett Riley, Clemson offense

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney says he has no "leash" on what Garrett Riley is doing with the offense.

by TigerNet Staff - Mon Oct 09 21:10:05 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney went and made one of the more surprising calls in his tenure when he replaced longtime assistant Brandon Streeter with former TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley this January.

Through half a season, the Tigers sit just inside the Top 50 in scoring offense (47th; 32.2 PPG) and rank 35th in yards per contest (437.3), which fall well short of the figures from Riley's first season at TCU so far.

Riley won the Broyles Award for the nation's top assistant by going into the Playoffs with the No. 16 scoring offense and leading the nation with 19 plays of 50-plus yards, with 13 being touchdowns. Clemson has one play of 50 yards so far this season, ranking 101st in plays of 20 or more yards (21).

Swinney was asked on his call-in show Monday if there was a leash on Riley or if the offense just hasn't fully been put in.

"He's not on a short leash, for sure. I think you've got a combination," Swinney said. "First of all, you're playing different teams. We've played some pretty good teams. Duke's a good team. Florida State is pretty good. Syracuse was a Top 10 defense in the country, scoring defense, going up there at their place. We played some teams that we put up a ton of offense in several games, outside of this past one here. He's done a heck of a job. And he's got a young quarterback. Last year, the quarterback he had a fifth or sixth-year player, so he's got a young guy and had a couple guys out as well, but he's done a heck of a job. Again, almost 500 yards against Duke, and we got beat. Outgained Florida State by 100-something yards, but we got beat.

"It's been more turnover issues, and he's put us in position to win every single game. That's for sure. Not that he's perfect or can't do some things better -- that's not what I mean. You've got to give the opponent some credit as well. He's done a heck of a job and settled in and he doesn't have a leash on him, that's for sure."

Swinney was asked earlier in the show about why there was a "lid" on the offense when it comes to explosive plays, and Swinney said that teams such as Duke and Wake Forest specifically schemed to take away the deep threat.

Regarding team speed, Swinney said they have plenty of speedy players, but missing Cole Turner (out for the season) and Antonio Williams (out for the last couple games) has hurt that way.

Riley was asked earlier Monday about the differences between his schemes for Clemson and TCU, and he said there isn't a lot different other than adapting it to the personnel.

“Every offense is different. We've got different players. A younger quarterback. All of those things,” Riley said. “But, we're attacking in a lot of the same ways, so there's not a lot of difference in there. I would say it’s who we have and who we are right now and just trying to work through it. The last few games, I think getting off to a faster start would allow us to probably unhook the plow a little bit sooner. We took some negative plays in the Syracuse game, but we did a much better job in the Wake Forest game of not taking as many negative plays.

“My response to that [those wondering why his 2022 TCU offense and 2023 Clemson offense may look different] would be it's the same, but you've got to adapt to the personnel you've got."