By William Qualkinbush.
If Chad Morris has not changed the name of his meeting room to the “Home of the No-Name Offense”, maybe he should consider it.
After the first stadium scrimmage of August camp, Clemson’s offensive coordinator continued to echo the message he has preached since the Tigers returned to the practice field. In Morris’ universe, given the loss of so many critical and nationally renowned players from last year’s team, the nation could not care less about any of the guys who remain in the program. To those people, whatever happens to be left behind cannot possibly be part of a strong offensive unit.
Hence the formation of the “No-Name Offense” that debuted for the first time on Saturday with a 13-play drive that had Morris smiling, if only temporarily.
“I keep stressing to those guys that nobody knows their name,” he said. “You just keep coming out and maybe one of these days, somebody will pick your name up along the way.
“Nobody cares to know who they are right now, except for their parents and grandparents and relatives. They know who they are, but they’re a no-name bunch.”
The mood was generally positive after the scrimmage, in which there was plenty of ball movement. No-name quarterback Cole Stoudt shrugged off an early leg injury to throw for a pair of scores, a feat that was equaled by his touted backup, Deshaun Watson.
Morris seemed accepting of Stoudt’s performance but stopped short of overtly praising his starting quarterback three weeks before his first supposed start in Athens against the Georgia Bulldogs. He had more nice things to say about his freshman wideouts, who are eager to see the eyes of the nation shift their way.
Specifically, Morris mentioned Demarre Kitt as the no-name making the best impression so far in the receiving corps. He also mentioned out-of-nowhere Joe Gore as a player “we can win with” at right tackle, yet another example of the kind of unheralded figure the Tigers will need to turn to this season.
For players like Kitt and Gore, the rigors of fall camp are more about Morris seeing how much they can handle without collapsing. The players that can will be the ones acclimating themselves to fans for the first time in Athens.
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“I’m trying to just basically smother them and see what they can do and see if they can respond to the pressure that we’re going to put on them,” Morris said. “We’re going to strain their little butts and see how they respond.”
Perhaps no position group embodies the persona of the “No-Name Offense” like the running backs. Senior D.J. Howard led the way in terms of carries on Saturday, but former track athlete C.J. Davidson was the leading rusher in terms of yards. They are two of a handful of guys looking to follow in the footsteps of Rod McDowell, a no-name in fall camp who ended up bursting onto the scene against Georgia and rushing for over 1,000 yards in 2013.
“It’s going to create a sense of edge in that running back room,” Morris said of the competition. “You’d better stay on with it, and you’d better be on your game.”
Often a team is still looking for its identity after a week of fall camp. For Clemson, at least on offense, the answer is clear and easy to remember.
In the classic song “Bright Lights”, Gary Clark Jr. tells his audience, “You gonna know my name by the end of the night.” If his “No-Name Offense” progresses on schedule, he might have an appropriate theme song for his unit to use in about three weeks.