Garrett Riley is the talk of the town in Clemson as the new offensive coordinator for the Tigers. Last season, he was the orchestrator of a TCU offense that averaged 38.8 points.

His genius helped catapult the Horned Frogs into the College Football Playoff and finish the season 13-2. Riley was promptly hired by Clemson and it feels like a head coaching gig is around the corner any time.

For now, he’s instilling his offense in Death Valley and wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham is excited about what it can bring. Before even detailing the scheme side of things, he discussed the mental game and how the players are reacting positively. Coming off a season that wasn’t up to standards on offense, even though the Tigers won the ACC title, it’s a breath of fresh air.

“You talk about confidence a lot I think. Garrett is confident in what he does and so, that exudes from him and our guys and our staff are able to show confidence in what we do, excitement in what we do, and our guys feel that,” Grisham said.

Considering Clemson has to build this offense from the ground up with the players, Grisham says there’s a lot of teaching at practice and slowing down the game to half-speed, three-quarters speed and more. Good news for the Tigers is the offense is young with players like quarterback Cade Klubnik and wide receiver Antonio Williams who are impressible this early.

Grisham also said the players feel like they can “go be athletes” in Riley’s offense and that has to put a smile on head coach Dabo Swinney’s face considering the level of recruits that come to Tiger Town. Instead of being locked into a template on every play, Riley’s offense allows the players to “go find grass” and just be in the moment creating big-play opportunities.

All signs point to a rise back to dominance for the Clemson offense under Riley, and Grisham believes the Tigers are meshing well with their new play-caller.

“He has his way of doing things offensively in practice and we’ve adopted those things and we’ve implemented them and it’s gone well and been well received and Coach Swinney has enjoyed it,” Grisham said. “Our players have enjoyed it so it’s been a great transition and very smooth and exciting.”

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