By Will Vandervort.
When he took the offensive coordinator’s position at Tulsa in 2010, no one outside the state of Texas knew who Chad Morris was, but they soon found out.
In one year, Morris took an average Tulsa offense that averaged mediocre numbers the year before and turned it into one of the 10 best in the country. In 2010, the Golden Hurricane averaged 41.4 points a game, eighth best nationally, and scored at least 28 points in 12 of their 13 games.
He also turned quarterback G.J. Kinne into an NFL prospect along the way. There was no Sammy Watkins, Dwayne Allen, Tajh Boyd, Andre Ellington or DeAndre Hopkins on that team, yet Tulsa had one of the more prolific offenses in the nation under Morris.
When Morris came to Clemson in 2011, he needed only a few months to teach his offense to Boyd and company as the Tigers soared to record numbers on their way to their first ACC Championship in 21 years.
With Boyd and Watkins in hand, Clemson only got better as the Tigers ranked in the top 10 nationally in both scoring and total offense in each of the last two seasons. Boyd set every Clemson record imaginable, while adding a couple of new ACC marks along the way as well.
Watkins became a consensus first-team All-American in 2011 and 2013 as he set Clemson records for receiving yards and receptions in a season and in a career.
Now that all that talent has gone on to the NFL, there are some out there that think the Tigers will struggle offensively despite still having back the one guy who orchestrated all of it.
“I don’t know. I have nothing to prove. I think what we have done as proven itself,” Morris said.
But as the 16th-ranked Tigers get set to take on No. 12 Georgia on Saturday in Athens, Ga., media and fans alike expect Clemson’s offense to struggle now that guys like Boyd and Watkins are no longer wearing the orange and white.
So with seven new starters on offense, including a first-year starter at quarterback in Cole Stoudt it would seem this off-season has probably been the most difficult one for Morris to coach since his first year at Tulsa.
“I think there are a few similarities, but really these guys are so familiar with the offense it’s not like you are teaching a new offense with new terminology,” he said. “It is more so trying to create a since of urgency with some guys and trying to find your depth.”
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney just laughed when he was asked if Morris had something to prove this year.
“Since January, that is all anybody talks about is who we don’t have,” he said. “We get reminded of that over, over and over. There are a lot of guys that we do have that have also been a huge part of winning a bunch of games.”
And Morris is the most important of those.
“Even though we lost a few guys from last year we still understand we have a lot of talent this year,” Stoudt said. “That is something that is going to shock a lot of people because they’re only looking at the negative side. We have a lot more positive than negatives.
“Yeah, we lost Sammy, Tajh and Tai (Martavis Bryant), plus a couple of guys on the O-line, but still we have guys at all positions. We have great depth and more depth than we have ever had. We are using more and more guys. We are still going to be an explosive offense and we are still going to be one of the best and we are going do what we do and get the ball in the end zone.”
Stoudt says the Clemson offense is going to be good because Morris expects them to be good not matter what.
“He coaches us hard because he has coached All-Americans and he knows how All-Americans are supposed to be coach,” the quarterback said. “He told us a few years back that if you want to be an All-American I’m going to coach you like an All-American.
“That’s what he does. He pushes us to our limit and to our best ability. He gets the best out of us and that’s what I love about Coach. Every single day I go in there, I know I am going to get better under him and Coach Swinney.”
This past spring and summer, Morris used the tactic “It’s us against the world” mentality when trying to motivate his team. At least from what has been said, that message has come through loud and clear. But on Saturday, “Between the Hedges” in Georgia, it will be time to go out and prove it.
“We have to go out and take the ‘us against the world approach’, but I don’t think we have to prove anything to anybody,” Morris said. “Our guys are proven. We have won a lot of games and have done a lot of good things. We just have to go out and go execute our system.”
And like Swinney said earlier this week.
“All the talk is over with. It is time to go play and see where we are.”