Garrett Riley anxious "to see the rest of our guys"

Garrett Riley is ready to get back to work with his offense in camp soon.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Jul 20 07:00:19 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley is ready to see the rest of his guys.

Riley, hired in January to transform Clemson’s offense, installed his Air Raid scheme during the spring, but the Tigers were missing several key players on that side of the ball. Offensive linemen Marcus Tate, Walker Parks, and John Williams, wide receivers Adam Randall, Beaux Collins and Troy Stellato, and backup quarterback Paul Tyson all were forced to miss the spring dealing with injuries or recovering from off-season surgery.

Add in Class of 2023 signees like wide receivers Ronan Hanafin, Tyler Brown, and Misun Kelley, running backs Jarvis Green and Jay Haynes, and tight ends Markus Dixon and Olsen Patt Henry and Riley has a lot of new options.

That makes the early days of fall camp important as Riley ascertains what those players have learned and can do.

“I am anxious to see the rest of our guys. We had a lot of guys come in during the summer and had some guys missing during spring football,” Riley said Tuesday. “So, we had quite a few guys that I haven't necessarily seen perform or practice. I am excited to see everybody and just kind of see how we've progressed since spring football. I know we have a lot of confidence going with our group right now with how things are going during the summer. The player-led practices that they are doing on their own are going really well for them. So just excited to get back out there with them.”

Riley was asked how quarterback Cade Klubnik and the other leaders have handled the summer.

“I have been through this before of bringing in an offense and transitioning some teams, so it's cool at this point in time to see how the buy-in has just taken another step with our guys,” he said. “And just some of that confidence within them of running this and where things are becoming muscle memory and they aren't having to think as much. So, it's kind of a fun time to see how they've accelerated mentally, probably more than anything, compared to when they first learned this. But he has been doing a great job. We've got good leadership on our whole team, but I think offensively we have got a cast of leaders that have done a great job this summer.”

How will he get the new guys – especially the receivers – to pick up the offense in an expedient manner?

“Just do what we do. We practice it and we do the same stuff over and over again,” Riley said. “It's all about repetitions with how we go about our business offensively. Those guys have done a lot of work this summer to catch up with what they could after missing spring football. But that's what we do anyway, and these guys are going to get a lot of repetitions here soon.”

As for Riley himself, he is happy to be in Clemson and knows he made the right decision.

“We have players we are excited about and players that have played together. They have a great deal of continuity on our whole team and that is exciting and the staff buy-in has been great. It's everything I thought it could be,” he said.