Richardson says Jake Briningstool is a 'tendency breaker'

Jake Briningstool has all the tools to be effective in the new offense.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Jul 29 15:08:29 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Take a tight end with one of the best skillsets in the ACC and add in an offense designed to get the ball to playmakers in space, and you have an excited Kyle Richardson.

Richardson, entering his second season at the helm of the Tigers’ tight ends group, returns three players who gained experience a year. Jake Briningstool finished fifth on the team with 25 receptions for 285 yards and four touchdowns. Sage Ennis was used as more of a blocking tight end but caught two passes for 17 yards, and the coaches were able to redshirt freshman Josh Sapp, who still saw snaps in two games.

However, it’s Briningstool and Garrett Riley’s offense that has Richardson excited.

“I think with him and his skillset, you can get into a bunch of different concepts and not have to change out your personnel based on it's run or pass,” Richardson said. “It's like having another wide receiver on the field, but he also he can go in the box and still hold up in the run game and do what he's got to do there.

"If you're not changing up your tight end a lot and giving away tendencies, defenses can't sit there and go, 'They're only going to do this.' No, the whole playbook is open. He's a big-time tendency-breaker. You're just mixing and matching personnel to get the best personnel against the defense's weaknesses. If that means we need to take the tight end and flex him out more this week, then we can do that and not change our plays, our concepts, or the quarterback's reads. If he needs to be more in the box any given week, then he'll play there."

Ennis is finally 100 percent healthy, and Richardson said Sapp is progressing.

"He was a typical freshman last year and had to learn how to train and did a really good job of Power Hour and trimmed up his body and got stronger. My challenge for him is to take the next step,” Richardson said. “The biggest part of that is taking the next step in accountability. If he wants to play, there are things that have to happen in order to play and to play at a high level and to play somewhere like Clemson. I've challenged him from an off-the-field standpoint, a nutrition standpoint, and a weight room standpoint. I've heard really good things about his summer. He's a big piece of this room and he knows that, and it was the same thing I was challenging Briningstool with before— to take the next steps. That's where I'm at with Sapp."

Freshmen Markus Dixon and Olsen Patt Henry are also on campus and have impressed the coaches by showing up in shape.

"They do not look like 18-year-old dudes,” Richarson said. “But they're drowning a little bit right now, dropping them into the academic side and the weight room side. That's all freshmen. But I'm very pleased with what I've heard so far."

Richardson said that while catching passes is fun, the tight ends know they still have to create a presence in the run game.

"The tight ends know we are still going to run the football,” he said. “And they have to make just as big of a difference in the run game as in the passing game because they both play off each other. The better we are in the run game, the more opportunities they'll get in the passing game because now the defense has to commit more defenders to the run. They know they've got to still be a dominant force in the box and out of the box. But there is still probably a little more flexed-out, more in-space now, so I can dangle that carrot a little more than I have in the past."