Clemson OC Tony Elliott Wants Offense to be Explosive
Perhaps channeling his inner Ricky Bobby from the movie “Talladega Nights," Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott has made it clear through his first two games of 2020.
He wants to go fast.
Just two games into his first season as the lone offensive coordinator, Elliott's offense has shown that it plans to go fast and put points on the board. Through the first two games, Clemson is averaging 43 points, 483 yards, and 69.4 plays per game.
Regardless of personnel or the situation within the game, Elliott expects the offense to execute and end each drive with a kick that preferably isn't a punt.
The Tigers produced one of the best first halves of the Dabo Swinney era Saturday but struggled mightily in the second half to produce points. Elliott is hopeful those meaningful snaps will help make the reserves better in the long run.
Despite younger players taking over through the second half, Clemson still expects the same level of productivity.
"The mentality is that the expectation doesn't change," Elliott said. "We don't worry about external influences. But the expectation is it doesn't matter if we're down offensive linemen or a running back. People are still going to expect Clemson to be Clemson."
In a season filled with unpredictability, everyone has to be ready to play at any moment and play at a high level.
"We want to come out, put together drives, and score points. It's a great opportunity for us to teach, especially these young guys," Elliott said.
Trevor Lawrence mentioned in his post-game session on Saturday how it was great to take care of business early for the second straight week to allow the team to develop its depth in live-action.
"It's been good to have two games now where we took care of business early on so our younger guys can get in and get some reps," Lawrence said.
"That's two games in a row now that our younger guys have had the opportunity to play, but we still haven't been able to finish off drives and put it in the endzone," Elliott said.
While pleased with the effort of his first-team offense, it's back to the drawing board this week to keep striving for improvement with the reserves. Elliott says the expectation shouldn't waver no matter who is in the game.
All in all, the Clemson offensive coordinator has no major concerns after the first two games. However, he is eager to get back to work this week and push his second team even harder during the open date.
"Coming out of halftime the challenge was to protect the quarterback, take care of the ball, and score points," Elliott said. "But unfortunately, we were unable to hit on those goals in the second half."
