Richardson details what to expect from Clemson's new offensive attack

Kyle Richardson has 13 years of experience with Garrett Riley's style of offense and he's been excited to get to work.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Thu Mar 30 07:00:22 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - Garrett Riley’s arrival at Clemson is bringing a new offensive scheme to the Tigers. However, it’s one that passing game coordinator Kyle Richardson is very familiar with from his coaching career.

“For me, I’ve been in this system for thirteen years. So, obviously the last seven I’ve been out of the system being here at Clemson, but for thirteen years, this is what I ran at North Gwinnett High School, Southeastern Louisiana University and Northwestern High School,” Richardson said. “So (Riley) knows that I knew that coming in and he knew how familiar I was (with) the system. So that’s helped us to just kind of me seeing his version of it, and learning it and that’s what’s been great for me… It’s kind of like you’re on a bike. You never forget it, but it’s been really good for me to kind of, I’m not starting from scratch.”

Richardson himself had plenty of success with this kind of system. Most notably with Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, he led his team to two undefeated seasons, a 81.7% winning percentage, eight regional championships and three state championships. His Northwestern program produced several NFL stars, including Cordarelle Patterson.

But despite being the system he is used to, Richardson still has to learn Riley’s way of coaching it just like the rest of the team.

“With Garrett, I’m learning his signals. I’m learning what he sees in certain play calls based off of what I saw in the past of running and so that’s been really good to kind of spend some time with him on that, but from the passing game coordinator standpoint, we’re going to work together like we always do,” Richardson said. “He’s offensive coordinator and he’ll call the plays (and) I can’t wait to be a part of it in whatever capacity, he needs me.”

Arguably the best part about this system is how it benefits the players. Due to the flexibility the players have, it allows them to develop more as players and puts them in better positions to make plays. Some of the plays with Riley’s new system actually do incorporate some of the plays Clemson already had been using for the past several years, even some that go back to Chad Morris’ time as offensive coordinator. This is also the type of offense quarterback Cade Klubnik ran in high school, allowing him to use his gunslinger arm to make more plays down the field. Richardson explained that this is something that fans will see more of from the Tigers.

“We’re going to throw the ball downfield more than in the past,” Richardson said. “There’s (a) lot of crossing routes and intermediate in the middle in between the hashes that are part of the concepts and you’ll see probably more balls in that ten to fifteen-yard area in the middle of the field. So you’ll see some things like that, that maybe stand out but at the end of the day, it’s about putting our best players in position to make plays. And it’s just easier to do that.”

Not only will this allow Klubnik to develop more, but this gives the wide receivers a chance to grow as well. Further, this new system allows the coaches to look at who their best players are and tries to put them against the weakest defenders while maintaining the same calls and system. In other words, it leads to more productive coaching. According to Richardson, this is also going to be reflected on the field by players getting out of the huddle faster than they previously did.

“That’ll probably be one of the biggest things that you’ll see a big difference…You won’t see a lot of people running around to get lined up. We’ll get lined up quick,” Richardson said. “And then from there, we can either run the play quick or we can just run it at a normal tempo, but we’ll be able to get lined up quicker and not just kind of be all over the place.”

One common misconception is that this new system will involve a lot of passing and no running. But Richardson says that will not be the case. In fact, the running backs, including Phil Mafah and Will Shipley, will benefit from this new system as well since success in the passing game creates more running opportunities.

“What’s going to happen (is) going to lighten up that box because of the threat, not necessarily what the percentages are, but the threat of you being able to throw the football at a high level,” Richardson said. “He’s going to loosen that box up because they got to come out and defend. And now you’re going to get Phil, you’re going to get Shipley. You’re going to get them on five-man boxes or really loose boxes just from the threat of the pass.”