CLEMSON FOOTBALL

Garrett Riley thinks it's 'pretty cool' to wear the Clemson paw in Texas
Garrett Riley has hit the recruiting trail running with Clemson's iconic Paw displayed.

Garrett Riley thinks it's 'pretty cool' to wear the Clemson paw in Texas


by - Senior Writer -

CLEMSON – Garrett Riley’s roots run deep in the state of Texas, and now he thinks it’s pretty cool to wear Clemson’s iconic paw in his home state.

The little town of Muleshoe, Texas, sits about 385 miles west of Fort Worth, closer to the New Mexico line than it is to many of the Lone Star State’s biggest cities. That is where Riley and his older brother, USC head coach Lincoln Riley, grew up.

Garrett was named the 2007 Associated Press Class 2A Offensive Player of the Year at Muleshoe High, and he continued his playing career at Texas Tech and began learning under the late Mike Leach. Lincoln was also a quarterback for the hometown Mules and then the Red Raiders and would eventually spend the first seven years of his coaching career in Lubbock.

Garrett transferred to Stephen F. Austin (also in Texas) in 2010 and led the Lumberjacks to a Southland Conference championship, leading the nation’s top passing offense. Garrett’s first coaching break came in Lubbock, as the quarterbacks coach at Roosevelt High. The next year he began his collegiate coaching career at a small school in Illinois, the start of a journey that led him to Clemson.

He spent last season in, you guessed it, Texas. Riley arrived at TCU following a 2021 campaign in which the Horned Frogs finished 5-7 and produced the nation’s 65th-ranked scoring offense. In his lone season in Fort Worth, he transformed the unit into the nation’s ninth-ranked scoring offense at 38.8 points per game. The explosive group led the FBS with 22 plays from scrimmage of 50 yards or more, and TCU played for the National Championship, losing to Georgia in early January.

Clemson has had success recruiting in Texas in recent years – current players on the Tigers’ roster from Texas include Andrew Mukuba, Ian Reed, Harris Sewell, RJ Mickens, Noble Johnson, and Cade Klubnik. Riley says the paw has made an impact in his home state.

“It’s pretty cool. It’s pretty cool to wear that paw-- there is no doubt. A lot of people in Texas have great respect for this brand and what Clemson’s done over the last decade,” Riley said. “I think there is a lot of respect in that state for Clemson. It’s been pretty good outreach since I got here from a lot of Texas high school coaches. I know they are excited for us-- and me and these Texas guys on our roster. We’ve done well recruiting there the last several years, so I think it’s only going to help us have a strong footprint there as we move forward.”

Head coach Dabo Swinney is expecting Riley, who shaped Max Duggan into a Heisman Trophy candidate last season, to have a similar impact on the Tigers’ quarterback room.

“He’s got a good knack for that,” Swinney said. “He’s been around a bunch of good ones. You saw his impact on (Shane Buechele) when he was there (at SMU). And then he goes to TCU … and Duggan, the guy ended up winning the Davey O’Brien. I think all you can really base the answer on is just the guy's track record, and he’s got a good track record when it comes to developing quarterbacks.”

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