Dabo Swinney Shares Thoughts On Offense's Progress

No offensive scheme is ever set in stone. In today’s modern age of offense especially, coordinators are much more pliable with their design, fitting it to the skills of their players versus forcing players to adapt to their style of football. That’s the process that’s currently happening at Clemson. As new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley installs his playbook, he’s figuring out how to best utilize the talent he has. Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney has been happy with the progress of his offense but acknowledged that the team is still figuring things out.

“I think the biggest thing is, the plays we have, making sure we have complimentary ones to them,” said Swinney. “It’s having some good answers that we can go to right away. I think it’s all built-in, it’s all really good. Kind of simplified some things procedurally, cadence-wise, where our eyes are.”

Riley’s offense is one that, when it’s at its best, dictates the pace of the game. If they want to go fast, they can. If they want to slow it down and wear on a team, they can. None of that can happen without the quarterback being fully in control, but also the rest of the players understanding their responsibilities and executing them.

“We just want to be really good at what we do, and then have answers,” said Swinney. “If they take it away, we have an answer for it. I think we’re well on our way. We’re not perfect, personnel-wise, with all the guys out [injured], but install-wise, I think the guys have really caught on well.”

Clemson will return to spring practice on March 27th. The spring game will take place on April 15th at Memorial Stadium.