Throwing Deep: Richardson says Tigers have to be more consistent

Clemson is looking to connect more downfield this season after struggles in 2021.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Apr 26 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Passing game coordinator Kyle Richardson knows the Clemson offense needs to take shots down the field, but he also knows the other parts of the offense have to be working if those shots are to mean anything.

Clemson’s passing offense wasn’t explosive last season, and many fans wondered why the Tigers didn’t take more shots down the field (or attempted long pass plays) in an attempt to loosen up the defense. The Tigers ranked 80th nationally in passing plays above 10 yards with just 103. On plays of 20-plus yards, the Tigers were 97th (33), 90th on plays of 30-plus yards (15), and had just nine plays of 40 yards or more. There was just one pass play of 60 or more yards and none above 70.

Richardson mentioned a few weeks ago that he has worked with offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter to make some tweaks to the passing offense, including more post-snap options, and he also said that injuries limited the play calling last season.

“I think any game that you go into, you say, ‘Hey, I have to force the ball downfield to take advantage of some shots.’ And I think to an extent, again, you have to look at personnel at times,” Richardson said. “Our personnel was not there to be able to threaten the field deep, and then we just weren't consistent at times in throwing the ball downfield, and that happens, too. So, I think it was a mixture of things to where I can look back and see what happened.”

He said that you can’t call deep pass plays just to be calling them.

“Every game that we go into, we want to take some shots, but I don't think it's smart for us just to go take shots just to say that we're taking shots, too,” Richardson said. “We need to be able to be calculated in our shots and calculated in the passes that we're calling. And then at the end of the day, you have to be able to run the football and you have to be able to do some things in your screen game and your run game if you want to be able to take those shots downfield. And it all ties hand in hand.

“I have the passing game coordinator title. That means nothing. It really doesn't, because the pass game is nothing if you don't have a run game. The run game is not much if you don't have a pass game and if you don't have that screen game to keep defenses from laying their ears back and coming and keeping them honest, it's not going to be a consistent offense. And at the end of the day, that's what you're looking for.”

Richardson stressed that consistency is the key.

“You're not looking for ‘Can we be a big-play offense? Can we be a keep the ball time management offense?’ We want to be a consistent offense, and consistency comes from four quarters of consistency and then turn around and can you do it seven days later,” he said. “And that's where we got to get to offensively is where we're consistent in all three parts of the game.”