Richardson happy as a 'pig in mud' with new offensive system

Kyle Richardson is familiar with the offensive style Garrett Riley is bringing in.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Feb 08 07:01:03 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Kyle Richardson is happy as a pig in mud. If you grew up in the city and don’t know what that means, it means he’s really happy.

Richardson is Clemson’s tight ends coach and passing game coordinator, titles he took on after the 2021 season, and is set to begin his second full season in 2023 in those roles. One difference, however, is that Brandon Streeter will no longer be the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach – that title now belongs to Garrett Riley.

Richardson said that while he is excited about a new system, he didn’t want to forget Streeter’s contributions.

“First off, I just want to say that we have a new system coming in, but Coach Streeter gave his heart and soul to Clemson football,” Richardson said. “And I appreciate all the hard work and effort he put into the Clemson program But moving forward and looking to the future, I am super excited about the system and the direction we are going.”

Richardson is no stranger to Riley’s Air Raid system – he learned the system when Hal Mumme and his son Matt were at Southeastern Louisiana with Richardson in 2004. When Richardson moved back to South Carolina and the high school ranks, he brought the Air Raid with him and put together an incredible run of success.

As the head coach at Northwestern from 2011-15, led the Trojans to a 58-13 (.817) record, including four region championships, three state title game appearances and state championships in both 2013 and 2015.

He led a Northwestern program that produced NFL quarterback Mason Rudolph, NFL wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, former Clemson defensive end Logan Rudolph and former Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley.

It’s obvious that Richardson loves that system.

“For 13 years, that was the system I was in and I learned it from Coach Mumme and his son Matt,” Richardson said. “Coach (Dabo Swinney) looked at me and said, 'You are about to be a pig in mud.' And I've been a pig in mud. It's been fun and exciting, but we haven't talked much ball. When he got here, we all left the next day and went on the road recruiting the next two weeks. So we will get a little bit of time off and then jump in with both feet and jump in that mud together.”

Richardson said it won’t take the offense long to learn the system.

“The beauty of it is, it's not a very complicated system. There isn't a lot to it,” he said. “It's all about repping for greatness. And in order to rep for greatness, you can't have a lot of stuff to do. And that's the beauty of it. We have plenty of time to get it in. We have plenty of time to get it in with coaches and get it in with the kids. And then from there we will just go into spring ball and start repping it and having some fun and getting better at it.”