Dabo Swinney still has that fire inside

Dabo Swinney made a big move to bring in Garrett Riley to lead the offense.

by Ryan Kantor - Contributor - Sat Jan 14 07:00:05 GMT-05:00 2023

Following Clemson’s ugly Orange Bowl loss to end the year, Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney called Clemson’s 11-3 season “excellent.” While the season delivered an ACC Championship, the bowl loss to Tennessee marked their sixth loss in the past two seasons. In the six seasons from 2015-2020, Clemson went 79-7. When one media member asked about this apparent slippage, Swinney rejected the notion entirely and went on to cite long-term consistency and players performing well in the classroom.

After the Orange Bowl, nearly two weeks passed and no coaching changes were made. No portal moves were made. Everything remained status quo and it seemed like Swinney was content with that.

There were people outside the program that saw the need for change and new outside ideas. I published two articles arguing that some sort of change was necessary. Back in November, my pleas were met with resistance, but after a 1-2 ending to the season, almost everyone seemed to agree except the one man that mattered, Dabo Swinney. Some believed he was simply content with 3-loss seasons and was refusing to make the painful decisions needed to innovate.

On Thursday, Swinney surprised everyone by dismissing Brandon Streeter and hiring TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley. In doing so, he proved he still has the competitive fire inside that brought Clemson from middling to mighty. Perhaps Coach Swinney was playing it close to his vest all along while waiting for TCU to finish their playoff run. Maybe he wasn’t planning any moves but changed his mind. Either way, Swinney made a bold and decisive decision that is being lauded across the college football landscape.

Before we discuss what Riley brings to Clemson, it is worth mentioning a few things about Brandon Streeter. He was the starting QB for Clemson in 1998 and 1999 and earned a reputation for battling through injury. Today, Clemson gives out the Brandon Streeter Award to the student-athlete who overcomes injury to exceed on the field. He was a graduate assistant for the Tigers in 2004 and 2005 before working at Liberty and then Richmond. He returned to Clemson as the QB coach in 2015 and remained in that position until the 2022 season. While in that role, he recruited and coached QB Trevor Lawrence.

2022 was his first year as Clemson’s offensive coordinator. In whole, the offense improved from its paltry 2021 performance but regressed after peaking in Week 4 at Wake Forest. At times, the offense looked faster and more creative than the Elliott-led offense of 2021, but it often failed to get the ball to its best playmakers (i.e., running backs and tight ends). While it wasn’t the bounce-back performance Clemson fans all wanted, Streeter should be appreciated for the positives that happened during his time on staff, including two National Championships.

Replacing him is the reigning Broyles Award winner Riley from TCU (the younger brother of Lincoln Riley). Riley runs an air raid offense but isn’t shy about running the ball. His TCU offense ran for 2,899 yards this season, more than any Clemson team since Travis Etienne shredded defenses in 2019. His offenses were also well-balanced between the run and pass in his two campaigns as offensive coordinator at SMU

During his time at SMU, Riley conducted an hour-long offense clinic/webinar which is posted online. In it, he shares some techniques on how to teach offensive linemen screen plays, design explosive jet sweeps, and run chain-moving mesh routes. My biggest takeaway was that his offenses attack. They use reads to exploit weaknesses, but they don’t let the defense dictate everything to them. He implores the coaches watching to avoid getting fancy running a play out of a bunch of different formations and instead get really good at fewer things. One quote from Riley that really stuck out was “I don’t care if they know what we’re running. We’re going to out-execute them.”

While the Tigers won’t have Tee Higgins or Travis Etienne to create explosive plays for them next year, they will have an offensive coordinator who led a TCU squad with far less recruited talent than Clemson to a National Championship game. If he could do that with TCU’s talent, we can expect more explosiveness, more tempo, and more fun at Clemson next season.