Anonymous "Twitter fingers" send Elliott hateful messages following loss

Elliott speaks with the media Monday afternoon.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Sep 06 15:50:44 GMT-04:00 2021

CLEMSON – Offensive coordinator Tony Elliott doesn’t have a huge presence on social media, but he does use it and check it for recruiting purposes. Following Saturday’s loss to Georgia, he learned the dark side of those with anonymous “Twitter fingers.”

Clemson’s offense managed less than 200 yards against the Bulldogs and scored just three points, leaving Elliott, the offensive line, and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei in the crosshairs of some really angry people.

"I know I've already got the Twitter fingers sending me hate mail and telling me that I suck and I need to be fired and need to go back to Michelin, things of that nature,” Elliott told the media Monday. “You know, it hurts. It hurts for a couple of reasons. It hurts because I know how much work this offensive staff and these players have put in. I know how committed they are to this program. Nobody wants to go out on national TV and not play their best. I know the fans are passionate. I understand what the expectation is here. I hurt for them because they're upset that we didn't perform well because I know what it means to them. There's a feeling of hurt, but we can't wallow in our pity. We have to change our perspective and we have to draw on how we respond.

"I understand the frustration, and the only thing I can express to anybody out there about these young men is they've worked their tails off and they take pride in what they do. They are not perfect. We obviously didn't intend to not be at our best and be off-rhythm, but they are going back to work. They are going to grind and it will be exciting to see how they grow down the stretch."

Elliott admitted that in hindsight he should have stayed with the run, especially when the Tigers had 1st-and-goal at the Georgia five.

"Definitely down in the red zone, got a little anxious and wanted to get the ball in the end zone and went three straight passes. Probably should have ran it on first down,” Elliott said. “Also right after the defense generated the turnover-- I said it after the game, I looked down on the call sheet and was reading the call off and we have two similar calls and I called it wrong and put DJ (Uiagalelei) in a tough situation that resulted in a sack, which got us out of field goal range. So those are a couple of things that I can do better.

"We wanted to be aggressive, we wanted to attack. We knew that the weakness of their defense, if they had one, was their secondary. We knew it was going to be difficult to run, but probably could have committed a little bit more to the run."

He then said he will also do a better job of encouraging Uiagalelei to run when lanes are open.

"The first sack was a three-man rush and a couple of things we could have done better. DJ shouldn't flush out of the pocket and the young back has to get out,” Elliott said. “A young back is in there trying to do too much, he's got to get out and give DJ somewhere to go with the ball. Or DJ steps up and delivers the ball to EJ Williams and maybe we have a chance for a first down. There was another one late in the game where DJ started to the right and we prefer him to start to the left with his progression, and he started to the right and tried to come back left and once it's not there, he had the opportunity to run. Those are things we can coach a young quarterback about.

"Most growth comes after adversity in life. This is going to be a great moment for our offensive staff and players. DJ had a bad night and it's tough because we get embarrassed on national TV.”

I asked Elliott if he could remember a game where so much – coaching, offensive line play, quarterback play, run offense – went so wrong.

"I'm trying to think, I don't know if I can think of (any). There have been games where we've had those moments, but we've been able to overcome,” Elliott said. “And that's just a point of emphasis for these guys today, that when you're playing against teams like Georgia, that room for error is so small. There have been games when we've been out of sync but were able to overcome it because we had more talent and the game allowed us to recover."