Dabo Swinney Identifies Biggest Changes to Offense
Ahead of Clemson's first spring practice of the season, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney met with the media.
With the offense now in the hands of new coordinator Garrett Riley, Swinney identified the biggest differences from last year's scheme and what the team will be installing this spring.
"The biggest thing is your outside receivers. We would always cross-train our guys; the X and the Z, the 2 and the 9, depending on whatever we called them, whatever year it was." said Swinney
So, according to Swinney, instead of purposefully training receivers at multiple spots during practice, that same kind of "cross-training" will happen organically, as receivers don't switch sides in Riley's system. Instead, to keep the offense moving quickly, both receivers on the outside, and both slot receivers, are trained to run either side of a play.
For example, say Clemson picks up a first down and wants to go fast. Riley wants to call a play were the X receiver runs a slant and go (sluggo) route against the slower safety. Instead of taking the time for the receivers to switch sides, both receivers will have the ability and knowledge to run the route.
"Now, when you get into game-planning you can put guys wherever you want, but as a base rule, [receivers] don't switch sides. So, they cross-train naturally. Which, I like that because the ball gets distributed differently too. That X, on the next play he's a Z, and that Z, on the next play he's an X. Then your slots make the adjustments."
The receivers obviously aren't the only difference. Swinney identified some of the changes for the quarterbacks.
"Systematically, how you signal things is a little different. Put a little bit more on the quarterback from a signal standpoint. It's really simple." said Swinney
"The biggest thing is getting on the same page terminology-wise, because [The quarterback] has to be able to call it freely. What we might call "Stick" he might call "this"."
But for all of the changes, some things will remain the same for the Tigers.
"There are a lot of things that are the exact same, I mean, inside zone is inside zone, it doesn't matter. You can turn on TCU, you can turn on Clemson, inside zone, but we called it "this" now we're going to call it "this"."
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- Clemson 2023 NFL Combine Tracker
- Clemson Spring Practice Schedule
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