ESPN analyst says Cade Klubnik will thrive in tried-and-true Air Raid system

Cade Klubnik should thrive in Clemson's new offensive new system, says ESPN's Tom Luginbill.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Jan 30 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2023

Will the Clemson offense improve under new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley? One ESPN commentator says yes and that a tried-and-true offensive system is just what the Tigers ordered.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney hired Riley away from TCU earlier this month after parting ways with Brandon Streeter. The Tiger offense has put together two below-average seasons in a row, and Swinney made the move to put some life back into a unit that needed some new ideas.

Enter Riley, who coached a Heisman Trophy finalist in Max Duggan last season and was one of the reasons the Horned Frogs reached the College Football Playoff.

TigerNet spoke with ESPN college football analyst Tom Luginbill about the hire last week, and Luginbill said Swinney hit the proverbial home run, not only with Riley, but with the Air Raid scheme Riley brings.

“Garrett's done a really, really good job as a young coach, not just at TCU last year, but at SMU previously,” Luginbill said. “The thing about it is the scheme is tried and true, right? It is plug-and-play, quarterback-friendly, and has been remarkably successful at the collegiate level. And I personally think that his brother, Lincoln, deserves a lot of credit for that because he was one of the first, or one of... Art Briles was probably the first. But he was one of the first to incorporate a power running game with the Air Raid passing game principles. So when you start to incorporate the two, it's a pretty potent scheme.”

What will the running game look like in Riley’s scheme?

“That offense loves the guard-tackle counter and all of the different things that are going to come off of the guard-tackle counter,” Luginbill said. “So they're going to pull that backside guard, that backside tackle, and then they're going to have to counter off of it, and then they're going to have the quarterback keep off of that. Then they're going to have the jet sweep stuff, then they're going to have the backside quick screen to the boundary, and it's all going to come off of the same look that's predicated off of what their bread-and-butter play is, and that's the counter.”

He will also have some of the nation’s best athletes at his disposal.

“It's a really good, strong hire,” Luginbill said. “And he's young, he's energetic, and he's going to have access to really good players. I mean, that's the other thing about this deal. They'll be fine. I think a guy like Antonio Williams is a great example of guys and how they can be utilized like a Jordan Addison was at SC (Southern Cal) last year.

“I do think that they need to get back to that one big receiver that can play to the single side of the field that is a vertical threat, like they had with Martavis (Bryant), like they had with Mike (Williams), like they had with even Tee Higgins. They've got to get back to that. But I think what you'll start to see are more of an emphasis on maybe the Amari Rodgers type of guy. Not necessarily smaller, but the guy that's really good in space, that's really good in the screen game, and that can play in the slot.”

Quarterback Cade Klubnik should thrive under Riley’s tutelage.

“I think the thing that's great is he's going to be instantly coachable because all Garrett Riley has to do is run down the list of the last 15 to 20, even 25, even 27, 28 years of all of the quarterbacks at the collegiate level that have played in this offense and look at where they've gone,” Luginbill said. “And look at what they've accomplished, look at what the position that they've been put in. So he should be very, very... Not that he's difficult to coach, but what I'm saying is he should be salivating like a sponge, just absorbing everything, because the proof's in the pudding, as I referenced it, kind of being a quarterback-friendly, plug-and-play type scheme.

“The thing that I think is really important and good is Cade's got a lot of those same creative abilities that Duggan has in the sense that can he be used as a designated runner. Especially enough so to where you keep the defense honest and they've got to play 11-on-11. But the ability to extend plays, those types of things, I think, are really important in this offense. Because the quarterback is going to be using heavy play-action schemes, is going to be getting the ball out of your hand quickly, they're going to make it difficult to rush the quarterback and disrupt the quarterback because you're just not going to see the guy hold onto the ball very long. But if he has to, I think he's got similar traits to Duggan in terms of athleticism.”