Head coach Dabo Swinney spoke to the media on Monday, March 6 ahead of the first day of spring practice. Swinney shared how he believes the offense has transformed thus far under the new leadership of offensive coordinator Garrett Riley.

Riley, who previously had a successful tenure at TCU before coming to Clemson, has had a “good track record” according to Swinney and brings a highly energized and motivated demeanor in his coaching style.

“He has an awesome demeanor,” he said. “I really enjoy his demeanor. He’s out here every day. He’s very bright. He doesn’t act like he has all the answers on anything like that. He’s very confident. I love that about him. He’s a very successful coach.”

Swinney also indicated where he believes Riley’s command of the offense differs from previous seasons, and from what he has witnessed so far, the differences lie mainly in the terminology and the cadence utilized by the new offensive coordinator.

“Again, the biggest thing is getting the terminology the same,” he said. “The biggest thing is your outside receivers. We would always cross-train our guys. You know the X and the Z, the 2 and the 9, whatever we call them. We would always cross train guys, whereas now those guys we get in a game plan and things like that, you put guys where you want them. As a base rule, those guys don’t switch sides. So they cross-train naturally, which I like that because the ball gets distributed differently too, So, that X on the next play is a Z and that Z on the next play is X, left hash, right hash, whatever slots and making adjustments. That’s part of it.”

“Systematically, it’s how you signal things, it’s a little different,” he added. “A little more of the quarterbacks from a signal standpoint. It’s really simple, simplify some things, but again, there’s a lot of things that have been done good for a long time that you want to hang on to. The biggest thing is just getting on the same page terminology wise, because he has to be able to call it freely. What we might call stick, he calls mix, and it really doesn’t matter. What does stick mean? It means this, because that’s what we learned right.”

“It’s just getting everyone on the same page,” he added further. “It’s cadence and the rhythm of what you do cadence wise. There’s a lot of things that are the exact same, but again, inside zone is inside zone, it doesn’t matter. You can watch TCU, you can watch Clemson, inside zone is inside zone, but you called it this, but now we are going to call it this. It’s been fun.”

The head coach shared that he thinks that everyone should anticipate an offense that operates at a quicker tempo, which he believes will yield positive benefits to the team’s offensive efficiency in this upcoming season.

“I think we can play a little fast, just because of how we are going to signal and just easing into cadence and play that,” he said. “Again, as a base rule, guys not swapping sides, guys learning that concept. I think that’s a positive.”

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