Clemson Football: Three questions about the coaches

Garrett Riley: Can he elevate the Clemson Football offense?

Riley arrived in Clemson with fanfare and expectations. The Tiger offense has been paltry the past two years compared to the production we saw during most of Chad Morris’s and Tony Elliott’s tenures as offensive coordinator.

Riley does have one thing that Elliott and Brandon Streeter didn’t have when they took the reigns of the offense: proof of concept. His teams at SMU and TCU under head coach Sonny Dykes were, as he describes, “fast and violent”. That offense elevated the play of the TCU offense immediately.

There are hopes from some that it can have the same effect on Clemson’s offense. From others, that hope is the expectation, but is it logical to assume that Clemson has the right pieces to make Riley’s offense work? Can Riley simply wave his magic wand and turn pumpkins into carriages?

There is proof of concept that Clemson has the running backs and the tight end. Do they have the wide receivers to be “fast”? Do they have the offensive line to be “violent”? Do they have a quarterback who can lead them?

If the scheme was all that has been missing in Clemson, this should work brilliantly. If it is deeper than that at some positions, it might take time before everything clicks. That might happen this season, or there might need to be more roster turnover in places.