CLEMSON – When Dabo Swinney decided to go back to the future with Chad Morris as his offensive coordinator, the first thing a lot of you thought about was how explosive Morris’ offenses were, especially in the passing game.

Pass catchers such as Sammy Watkins, Nuk Hopkins, Adam Humphries, Martavis Bryant and Dwayne Allen all made a name for themselves in Morris’ offense, which led to lucrative and long NFL careers for the most part.

With Tajh Boyd throwing the rock, Clemson’s passing game was something to watch. However, what everyone forgets about is how good the Tigers were at running the football under Morris’ guidance.

From 2011-’14, Morris’ offense produced three 1,000-yard runners, while his quarterbacks ran for 33 TDs. In other words, Morris’ scheme only works as far as the running game takes it.

This is why the addition of Chris Johnson, Jr., to the backfield on Sunday was huge for what the Tigers need on the offensive side of the football.

Johnson is one of the fastest players in college football. The former SMU running back brings a lot of speed to the offense, something Clemson has lacked in the backfield for quite some time.

Johnson, who ran 479 yards 4 TDs this past season, will compete with redshirt freshman Gideon Davidson for carries. More importantly, he gives Clemson a running back room with a lot of depth considering David Eziomume, Jay Haynes and Jarvis Green are all expected back too. Haynes and Green are both coming off injuries.

Running the football is the key to Morris’ offense. Everything plays off the running game. The jet motions, RPOs and play action is predicated off the running game.

This includes the quarterback, too.

In 2011, Andre Ellinton led the Tigers with 1,178 yards and 11 TDs, while averaging 5.3 yards per carry. He again rushed for over 1,000 yards (1,081) and scored 8 TDs in 2012, while averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

In 2013, Roderick McDowell ran for 1,025 yards, scored five TDs and averaged 5.4 yards per carry. In 2014, Wayne Gallman, a freshman at the time, ran for 769 yards, scored 4 TDs and averaged 4.8 yards per carry.

As I mentioned, the quarterbacks played a role in the run game as well. Tajh Boyd’s 1,132 rushing yards and 25 TDs kept defenses honest. Deshaun Watson, despite missing five games due to injury, ran for 200 yards and 5 TDs in 2014. Even Cole Stoudt ran for 3 TDs.

So, getting Johnson to transfer to Clemson is a huge get for the Clemson offense. There are still questions about the quarterback position, but the running game got a lot better and that’s what Chad Morris’ offense needed.