Riley Keeps Clemson Offense on its Toes
By: will-vandervort August 10, 2023

CLEMSON — Garrett Riley likes to keep his offense on their toes, especially his offensive linemen.

When Clemson opens practice each day with its normal stretching routine, Riley grabs a football and throws it to his offensive players.

“If you aren’t ready, that football is in your face,” left guard Marcus Tate said.

Why does the Tigers’ new offensive coordinator throw the football at his unsuspecting players?

“I think he just tries to see where you are at, if you are focusing,” Tate said. “I think he does it to mess with you, obviously. But I think he wants to see if you are ready and if you are focused and that you have your head on a swivel, like how you have to keep it on the football field.”

More importantly, Riley wants his players to have fun, something the Clemson offense has not had much of the last couple of years.

“It’s not even about football sometimes, it is whatever,” Tate said. “He will mess around with you and all of that, and I like that because I am a little goofy too.”

What sets Riley apart from most offensive coordinators is how much time he spends with his offensive linemen. Though he is the quarterbacks coach at Clemson, he is always hanging around the big guys, joking with them, talking to them and being there for them.

“It is definitely different,” Tate said. “The way he came at it, it is a different perspective from a coach really showing that much love to the O-Line. I appreciate it. It is easy to take coaching from him because you see that it is genuine, and it is not him just doing his job.

“It is a real genuine relationship that he has with all the offensive linemen. He is a cool person. He is real laid back. I like that too because he is cool and messing around with you and all that, so that has been really cool. Just to have that relationship with him, I see how genuine he is, it is not him just doing his job.”

The Tigers will see how that translates on game day when they kick off the 2023 season at Duke on Sept. 4.

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