Clemson Offense Trying to Find Answers Entering Week 5

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott knows a little something about hard work. He came to Clemson back in 1999 as a walk-on receiver, and by the time his playing days were done, he had accomplished something very few walk-ons do. His teammates honored him by making him a team captain in 2003.

Eighteen years later, Elliott is having to push himself the same way he did in 2003, maybe even harder. This time it is not to earn the respect of his teammates—instead, it is to right the offensive ship that has run aground at his alma mater.

Entering Week 5 of the 2021 season, the offense ranks 121st nationally in total offense, 105th in scoring offense and 95th in rushing offense—those numbers have left many around the nation scratching their collective heads as to what has gone wrong.

"I think you knew just with the transition and movement upfront that there would be growing pains," Elliott said. "You are moving a new guy to center, trying to find a new left guard, a new starter at right tackle even though he had played some. D.J., he had two games. But we knew that he was very talented and capable but there was also going to be a learning curve there as a full-time starter, especially when people are game-planning for you in particular.

"And in the run game, going back to the new moving parts, it was going to take us a little time for us to get it figured out."

When asked if it was time to start scheming around the deficiencies on offense, Elliott said it is an abundance of things that make that process more challenging.

"I think it's a couple of things, finding the right combination of guys up front and then making sure they understand the schematics and details of what we're trying to do. And then the young backs too. Sometimes the young backs get a little antsy. There were a couple of plays where if we stayed on the right track and trusted it, man, it would result in big plays.

"The last couple of weeks schematically, you have to work around the three-man front, especially with the alignments they're playing with their defensive ends, you have to do some different things with your tackles, which is new to them. You get a week of preparation but still you have to go execute it and the nuances are a little different."

While the TIger are in the midst of their worst offensive start to the season, since 2010 according to head coach Dabo Swinney, Elliott admitted that there are things that he could be doing differently to help alleviate the stress on the young quarterback.

"There are a lot of things. On the second-and-long probably could have gone with a different call," Elliott said. "It was an RPO but probably could have put D.J. in a better position. Possibly can take some of that off his plate and control it a little bit for him as a play-caller there."

But the apparent concern for Elliott is that the fans will continue to question his decision no matter what he does.

"I'll be questioned if I take all the RPO offs and hand the ball off into an eight-man box, and everyone is going to say, 'You don't know what you're doing as a coach.' So then you have to have your RPO," Elliott said. "Then when he throws an RPO out there and it gets four yards, well you need to hand the ball off and run the ball. You can't have your cake and eat it too. My point is, maybe in certain situations, take a peek at it and take the RPO off and force the run.

"I thought he made some good decisions, but there were about three plays where he didn't necessarily make the bad decision, but if you hand it off, then the run will probably be an explosive run. So you are playing that cat-and-mouse too. If you don't have the RPO on there and hand it off into a loaded box, then it's throwing the ball on the perimeter. And you don't want to slow him down by having him think too much. He has to go out there and play ball."