Elliott's Running Back Room Will Match QBs, WRs in Talent

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott has done a tremendous job as a play-caller, but sometimes his work as running backs coach and how he does more with less recruiting stars gets overlooked. That's about to change as two 5-star prospects are coming.

Tony Elliott has deservedly earned a lot of credit for Clemson's offense, which has helped the Tigers make five consecutive College Football Playoff appearances.

The offensive coordinator paired with Jeff Scott until December of 2019, when Scott left for the head coaching job at USF.

The co-OC combo had a lot of talent, but they also molded it into two national championships and five ACC titles since they took over in 2014.

What might be lost in some of that, though, is what Elliott’s done with the program’s running backs, which the former Clemson player has coached since joining the staff in early 2011.

Since then, Elliott has produced a top-5 ACC running back in yards in all but two seasons during that span.

Travis Etienne, the current starter, is the two-time ACC Player of the Year and the program’s all-time leading rusher. Under Elliott’s tutelage, nobody in ACC history has scored more touchdowns than Etienne, who has become one of the best backs in all of college football.

Elliott also helped turn Wayne Gallman into one of the most consistent rushers in the country in 2015-16. Elliott’s saw Andre Ellington and Roderick McDowell become All-ACC rushers. He helped make Adam Choice, Tavien Feaster and others productive members of the offense.

If you were to single out one of the great traits Elliott’s displayed is his ability to find diamonds in the rough, and he’s incredibly “stingy” with offers to running backs, according to head coach Dabo Swinney.

"He wants the right type of people in his room," Swinney said in 2018.

Etienne was a fringe four-star prospect and overlooked in his home state by LSU until it was too late and he was committed to Clemson.

Gallman was a four-star linebacker, and many ACC and SEC schools wanted him at that position. Not Elliott and the Tigers.

Here’s a real kicker, though: Elliott has never coached a five-star running back.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t had talent, but development has been crucial, and Elliott has shined at that before and after players arrived.

“Running back is a developmental position,” Elliott said last September. “I think that those guys have a chance to really develop later in their high school career, so I want to take my time and then I just want to make sure that they’re the right fit. If I’m only getting one or two (running backs), I can’t afford to get the wrong one. Because if I take the wrong one and he leaves on me, we don’t have a junior college policy here. I can’t go get anybody. So, I want to make sure I’ve got the right guys that are committed.”

However, times are changing. Clemson has long been recognized for its ability to recruit high-level receivers and turn them into first-round draft picks like DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins, Mike Williams and Tee Higgins.

As of late, the program has become a quarterback factory, recruiting the likes of Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence and D.J. Uiagalelei.

Soon, Demarkcus Bowman will be the first five-star rusher under Elliott when he joins the roster this fall as part of the 2020 recruiting class.

Next season, the Tigers are adding another five-star in Will Shipley, the nation’s top all-purpose back of the 2021 class. The Matthews, N.C., native committed to Clemson on Tuesday.

Also, Kobe Pryor, a three-star prospect, and Phil Mafah, a four-star, will be on campus in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

It’s going to give Elliott an even more talented and deep running back room that will rival the quarterbacks and receivers.

What will this do for the position? Elliott has long done more with less (stars), and now he’ll have players who are already considered among the best at their position.

For one, it could mean having ready-to-go players. Instead of spending time teaching and developing, Elliott might be spending more time implementing and using his offensive weapons at a younger stage.

Clemson isn’t likely to overhaul its philosophies. You won’t see two-running back sets become anything more than a surprise formation, but Shipley can line up all over the field, including slot receiver. It could give Elliott more flexibility with his play-calling and formations designed to get the ultimate matchups.

He’ll also be able to employ a well-rounded philosophy within the spread and run-pass option system. Need a speedster to test a defense on the edge? Got it. Looking for a bruiser on third-and-short to pound ahead and move the change? Check. Got a running back who can be an NFL-like passing option out of the backfield? Check.

There is a lot of diversity in Clemson’s future and a ton of talent.

However, there will likely be attrition at some point. Clemson brought in Chez Mellusi and Mikey Dukes in 2019, and junior Lyn-J Dixon decided not to transfer out when Etienne returned for his senior season.

It’s a good problem to have, and what a running back coach and play-caller of his caliber can do with a running back room like this is a scary thought for Clemson’s opponents.