Tony Elliott: Tigers Can Be More Efficient On Offense

The Clemson offense, led by quarterback Trevor Lawrence, was one of the nations best in 2019. The Tigers finished in the top five nationally in total offense and points per game.

Outside of the one game against North Carolina, the Tigers ACC opponents were no match for their high powered offense. Out of conference foes Texas A&M and South Carolina were no match for the Tigers offense either.

However, that isn't to say there aren't areas in which the Tigers can improve upon, some of which was seen in the College Football Playoff, when the team squared off against opponents who were equally as talented.

Prior to the opening of spring practice, offensive coordinator Tony Elliott went back and reviewed the 2019 season, looking for areas in which the team could improve.

"Third downs," Elliott said. "We weren't very good those last two games. In particular, third and three. And overall, our percentage wasn't there, we weren't as good as we needed to be."

After the teams 42-25 loss to LSU in the national championship, the staff faced some criticism over whether or not the team abandoned the running game to early. Elliott admits that with Travis Etienne in the backfield, they will be more diligent about getting their star running back the ball in the future.

"You know we took some chances throwing the football," Elliott said. "So we learned probably to hand the ball to Travis a little bit more in short yard situations, if we want to convert."

Another area Elliott is determined to get better at has to do with the play-calling itself. Some would argue the Tigers got a little to predictable at times, and Elliott is focused on doing what he can to ensure that isn't the case in 2020.

"We have some tendencies," Elliott said. "Naturally you would, when you're pretty good on offense. You're going to have some tendencies, but we got to work hard to make sure that we break some of those tendencies."

Elliott is also aware of the fact that the Tigers have lacked the big, playmaking tight end that can stretch the field in the passing game over the last few years. That is a facet of the game he says the offense needs, to be at its best.

"When we're at our best," Elliott said, "is when we can stay in that base personnel where we can really, really stretch the field. You know, with all four receivers on the field and a tight end being one of them. So excited about their growth."

With Braden Galloway now back from his year long suspension, along with Jaelyn Lay and Davis Allen both having a year in the system, Elliott thinks the Tigers have some guys that are ready to contribute.

"With Braden being back and now you know, Davis being a year older," Elliott said, "you know that's going to push Chalk. And then now you got, like I said, Sage (Ennis) has come in and you know he wants to try and compete. So that's going to push Jaelyn so really, really excited with the bodies that we have there. And I think there's probably overall from a talent standpoint, top to bottom, probably the best group of tight ends that we have had. Now we've just got to get them all ready to go function in our situation."

Another thing Elliott is putting some focus on is playing faster. Over the last couple of seasons the team has gotten away from that somewhat, and he wants to put more of an emphasis on it in 2020 and beyond.

"And tempo," Elliott said. "You know, playing fast. Around here, we've always tried to get 80 plays, but the last couple of years we've been around 72. Now, we're a lot more explosive than when we had those 80 plays, so we want to try and find that happy medium to where we can get that snap count up without jeopardizing our efficiency, and our explosiveness."

Outside of the few areas he thinks the offense can improve, Elliott is fully aware of what the team was able to accomplish last season. He knows they didn't finish the way they wanted, but is still proud of the season they had.

"When you step back, and we didn't finish the way we wanted to finish offensively," Elliott said. "But when you step back and you look at it, I mean we accomplished a lot of things."

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