Kyle Richardson says tight ends are a big part of the Clemson offense

Tight ends are a regular part of the Clemson offense, TEs and passing coordinator coach Kyle Richardson says.

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Mon Jul 25 13:36:03 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – There’s a myth out there that Clemson doesn’t utilize its tight ends. Clemson fans talk about it. Opponents use it against Clemson on the recruiting trail.

The narrative is there, but new tight ends coach Kyle Richardson set out to dispel that thought during Clemson’s media day last week.

Richardson had heard that narrative so much that he did a study of Clemson’s tight end usage since 2015.

“I hear that a lot, especially on the road recruiting, that we don’t incorporate the tight end, or maybe they're not used as much at Clemson as they would be somewhere else, or their touches,” Richardson said during last week’s media event. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to separate facts and fiction. So, I did a little research on Clemson tight end usage since 2015, and let me tell you the details are of that question first – at least one tight end was on the field or more. What do you think is the percentage of all the snaps we've taken since 2015? At least one tight end was on the field at Clemson since 2015.”

The numbers may be surprising to some, but Clemson has had at least one tight end on the field, more than most teams in college football, since 2015.

“96% of the time, Clemson has a tight end on the field in some capacity, whether it's run game, pass game, whatever, and then there's a percentage where there's two, and there's a percentage where there's three,” Richardson said. “So, kind of the narrative is really false that we don't use our tight end. A flip side of that is we never go into a game and say, this wide receiver is going to get five touches, and this tight end is going to get seven touches, and this running back is going to get ten touches. We don't do that. We put a game plan together to beat a defense, and however, that game plan sometimes changes after two quarters and sometimes tweaks at halftime, whatever that brings is whoever's going to get the touches and the usage. At the end of the day, we put a tight end on the field almost every step.”

And last season? There was at least one tight end on the field for every single offensive snap.

“100%. We had a tight end on the field last year. Every single snap last year, we had a tight end on the field. So, guess what? Clemson uses our tight ends,” he said.

The second part of the question TigerNet asked was how he, as the tight ends coach and passing game coordinator, can make sure the tight ends are fully incorporated into the game plan.

“Alright, that's the first thing. The second thing is their usage within the game is going to be game plan specific, and it's going to be what the defense gives,” he said. “Now, for me, what do I have to do to make sure that they're fully incorporated or they're part of the game plan is I got to push them to go practice, and I got to push them to go to meetings and come out of meetings and take it to practice. And when they come out of practice, we have to walk in that room up there and go, there's no way we can go without this guy doing this. There's no way we can go play this team without these two dudes doing this.”

However, the coaches aren’t going to force the ball to the tight ends – or any personnel group. The goal is to put Clemson’s offense in the best position to be successful.

“So at the end of the day, they control their usage, they control game plan specific stuff because just because they had stars beside their name in recruiting, it doesn't mean we're going to go, ‘we need to throw that dude the ball next time,’” he said. “And I promise the quarterbacks ain't looking up there going, well, which one bought me breakfast today? You know what I mean? Who gets open? Who finds a way, who can make the play, and how does it work within the play that we've called? You know what I'm saying? We never go. Hey, Trevor. Hey, Deshaun. Hey DJ, on this play, we want you - don't worry about anything else that's happening. Don't worry about what the defense is doing. Don't worry about that. This dude might not be open, or he might fall down on the snap. You just throw it to me. Go do that.’

“And our tight ends understand that. Our receivers understand that we got to do things to put the best product of offense on the field and find a way to be productive offensively. Their job is for us to go. There's no way we can be productive without X, Y, and Z.”