Clemson OC Garrett Riley Comments on Cade Klubnik
It’s no secret that a change needed to be made with the Clemson offense. A look at the final scores from last year would lead many to believe the Tigers were one of the better offenses in football, but turnovers and a lack of consistency eventually caught up with the team at the end of the year.
Enter Garrett Riley. The 33-year-old offensive coordinator spent last season guiding TCU’s offense to a College Football Playoff win over Michigan and an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship, while also seeing his quarterback Max Duggan head to New York as a Heisman Finalist.
Now, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has tasked Riley with revitalizing a Clemson offense that has gone stagnant over the past couple of seasons. The biggest factor in that turnaround will be the play of sophomore quarterback Cade Klubnik. Following Clemson’s third spring practice, Riley sat down with reporters to discuss the development of his signal-caller and how he’s picking up the new offense.
“I think quickly,” said Riley. “Again, we’re all about simplicity and making it easy for [Klubnik], number one. That’s the whole thing; if it’s easy for the quarterback, odds are you’re going to reap the benefits of that eventually. He’s grasped it well, I think all those guys have. They’ve had a great mentality since day one, of learning in that quarterback position room. I think we have smart kids in there, guys that understand football.”
Obviously, last year’s snaps have benefited Klubnik greatly. He’s gotten a taste of college football at the highest level, but there will still be some new hurdles in the new system. Riley commented on Klubnik’s experience around his system.
“With Cade specifically, a lot of things he’s kind of done at the high school level, and things [Clemson] did last year, it’s probably just doing it a little bit more and a higher repetition of it.”
One factor that will be interesting to watch will be how Riley utilizes Cade Klubnik in the run game. Last year, Riley rushed his quarterback Max Duggan 137 times, finding the endzone 9 times. With that said, the depth behind Klubnik isn’t great. That’s not to say the Tigers don’t have talent in the room, but there isn’t a ton of experience in the room you’d feel comfortable turning to if Klubnik went down. Klubnik isn’t built like the heavier Max Duggan, and Riley appears to be cognizant of that.
“He’s athletic. I mean, Cade’s kind of, I don’t want to say he’s sneaky fast, but he’s a very versatile athlete. You can go back and watch high school tape, he’s running around pretty good there at Westlake. He brings athleticism. He’s a guy that can certainly run. You’ve got to be smart with him, he’s not the biggest guy in the world. So, you’re going to have to be mindful of that, but he’s definitely going to give you an element in the run game, for sure.”
More Clemson News:
- Bryan Bresee Credits Clemson Football at NFL Combine
- Wes Goodwin Updates Clemson's Outside Linebacker Position Battle
- Clemson Spring Practice Schedule
Follow Christian Goeckel for more Clemson Football coverage: @goeckelsports
