Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott spoke with the media on Thursday as part of media day for the 46th Fiesta Bowl. The Clemson coach spoke about a number of topics, including how quarterback Deshaun Watson has improved over the course of the season.
Q: It’s so funny because there’s such different narratives as usual on the outside and on the inside so where do you see from your advantage point how Deshaun Watson has improved?
Coach Elliott: “Okay I would start with just personally. Being able to deal with adversity. He came in highly recruited right out of the gate had success. He’s injured then he comes back and has an unbelievable year that next year. We start off the season with things being not of the way we want to he was able to deal with that. Figure out what’s the best way for me to approach it myself. To get through this and come out better on the other side so I think just from a leadership standpoint a maturity standpoint and then now you’re seeing the result of the way he’s playing down the stretch.”
Q: How does he handle I mean everybody has such different leadership styles. It was funny to hear him talk about growing up, growing up makes us all feel old but watching Tim Tebow and you know just really liking the way he led and obviously played but how would you define his leadership style?
Coach Elliott: “I’d say he’s a quiet, assertive leader. He’s the kind of guy that’s just going to come to work every day. Put his best foot forward in all aspects of his life. He’s going to demand the respect and demand the competitive toughness of his teammates not by asking them for it but demanding it by the way he works. He prepares so everyone knows they are going to get Deshaun’s best and they know his confidence comes from the way he plays.”
Q: Have you seen him over the last year or so be in the film room more? Coach Scott was just talking about how that’s where he’s seen him develop is just knowing what the defense is trying to do instead of just knowing what he’s trying to do.
Coach Elliot: “Correct. Definitely and obviously graduating early gave him more time and so you’re noticing that he’s able to focus in extremely hard on details. He watches film differently than any other player I’ve ever been around. He watches it like a coach. Obviously players go in and watch and sometimes they get caught up with just watching the game but he studies the strategies, he studies the techniques, he studies the foot alignments, the depths, he studies everything about those guys like a true veteran quarterback would.”
Q: How can you tell that? Is it based off of the questions he’s asking while he’s watching?
Coach Elliott: “Oh yeah so when we do our Monday meetings it’s basically a scouting report intro to the defense we’re getting ready to play so we talk about different aspects and I get up last and talk about the blitz’s we’re going to see. So he’ll throw some things out there like, “Coach did you notice that if this safety’s foot is back he’s spinning cover two. He lets me know that he’s in tune and also too it makes me better because now I always have to make sure that I’m re-centered, refocused, week in and week out and not getting caught in the routine of watching film the same way. That I’m making sure I have the details down because I know my quarterback does.”
Q: What kind of challenge will the Ohio State secondary force for you guys?
Coach Elliott: “Very good challenge. I think collectively the best group we’ve seen all year. They’ve got three really, really good corners that they rotate in and out. Probably all three NFL guys. The safety, the young guy Hooker is probably the best safety I’ve seen and we’ve played some really good safeties in our league. But he covers a lot of ground, has great instincts, unbelievable ball skills. So I think it’s going to create some opportunities for 50/50 balls and we’re going to have to make competitive plays.”
Q: Tony looking ahead to the future how important have the carries and the reps that Tavien Feaster and CJ Fuller have gotten? How important are those going to be going into next year?
Coach Elliott: “Oh no question because those guys have the opportunity if Wayne decides and he puts himself in the position to move on to the next level the position is going to be wide open. I think it’s critical that those guys get not only just practice reps but game reps as well so they understand the importance of those practice reps because on our practice field that’s where we win championships because of going against some of the best talent on defense. We create an environment with the intentions that we need so that the game is actually slower than the practice. So it’s going to be huge for those guys and that position is going to potentially be wide open and there’s not going to be a drop off so whoever fills that spot is going to have to live up to the standards that we have.”
Q: Where have you seen Tavien improve the most over the course of the season?
Coach Elliott: “You know his technique and pass protection. We were very, very pleased and surprised when he came in in terms of his knowledge. His high school coaches did a great job of having him be prepared to be able to identify defenses. Technique was an issue with picking up blitzes so an improvement there. And then understanding the different schemes because at the college level most times when we have a running back of his caliber in high school you’re going to flip the ball in the perimeter and let him run because he’s faster than everybody but we have to run him between the tackles, we have to run him off tackle, we have to run him speed sweep so we do a lot of different things and each one takes a different level of patience, a different level of understanding, so I’m seeing his knowledge based on what we’re trying to do schematically improve as well.”
Q: Last year national semifinal game, second quarter you’re down by four points. You make a call on 4th and 4 to do a fake punt when the punter throws the ball to a defensive line.
Coach Elliott: “(jokingly) Coach Swinney made that call.”
What do you remember about that call and setting it up and just that moment, that stage to come up with that? Christian was telling me the other day it’s kind of created a whole slash landing.
Coach Elliot: “So I’ve got to be honest. Didn’t know, obviously Coach Swinney is in control of that. Those are game management decisions that he makes. All I’m listening for on 3rd down is really on 2nd is, “Okay Coach, I’m in two down territory what do I have to do on 3rd down? Think run it or throw it?” He kind of has a feel for it but when I heard that call I was like, “We doing what? Alright boys let’s roll with it.” And they converted. He said just have a play ready and we were able to have a play ready. I think we came back maybe pretty quickly with the trick play to Ray-Ray so we were able to set that up.”
Q: And then you see this year how it’s kind of developed into some other things. I mean he’s used on offense as a blocker, he’s used on offense to catch a touchdown, did that kind of start the monster that has become what he does?
Coach Elliott: “You know I think so. And he’s the kind of guy that can handle it and he’s a very, very unselfish team guy. He takes pride in whatever you ask him to do. So if you ask him to play three technique where he started then he’s going to unbelievable pride. Now he’s been playing defensive end because of the injuries during the season. He took unbelievable pride. I think it blew up. I get a lot of pressure on social media about the Dexter and the Christian package and involving that. But it was something that we needed. Obviously being a spread offense we’re not up on the center much but anytime we get into a short yardage situation especially on the goal line you’ve got to have a package that you can go to when you feel like you can hand the ball off and go get a yard or two.”