Clemson offense: It's not about the who, but the how

Tee Higgins had two catches for 18 yards

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Sep 02 20:50:21 GMT-04:00 2017

CLEMSON – It’s not about the who, but the how.

Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott and the coaching staff told the players heading into Saturday’s opener that the Clemson’s offense hasn’t had the success it’s had because of one or two players – it’s all about the process.

"Opening up, obviously very happy with the guys performance in the opener. A lot of new faces out there getting new opportunities and the biggest things we challenged those guys all week was it's not about the who, but the how,” Scott said. “Everybody on the outside wants to talk about who's the starter at this (position) and who's replacing this and all those type of things and we've been telling our guys it's about the how. It's how we do things. We've showed them the last six years offensively we've had a lot of success and been very consistent. There's been a lot of different players that were a part of that continued success and so our offense has not been built around one or two players, it's been built on how we do things and I really think the guys bought into that.”

The Tigers rang up 665 yards of offense, and much of that came after the starters were on the bench.

"The thing I'm most proud of was going all the way through the second half. I think three of our last five drives were 80-plus yards with a lot of backups and subs in there and really challenging those guys that the standard doesn't change,” Scott said. “The other thing is just really pleased with Kelly Bryant. I think it was special for everybody else to see what we've been seeing. Sometimes you don't believe the coaches or whatever and we're talking about all the success he's had really in fall camp, and we just wanted him to come and bring that out to the game field and he did.

“From the very beginning all the way through, great ball there to Deon and I think he set a record for the most total yards in an opener so I think that was pretty special with all the noise out there talking about all the guys that left and people are already talking about the guys that come in later and it's very hard for a guy in that situation. You've got to give Kelly a lot of credit for having the mental toughness just to really worry about the things he can control and he got off to a great start today and just really excited to watch him play."

Starting quarterback Kelly Bryant had 77 yards on the ground and another 236 through the air, and Scott said Bryant was in control at all times.

"I think the thing that Kelly brings is being able to run. Much like several of the other guys we've had in the past. We got on to him there when he stepped out of bounds, I think he wears a size 15 shoe and if he had worn a size 13 he might have scored there so that cost us some points,” Scott said. “No, but you can see how much more comfortable he is this year from whenever he's been in some situations in the past when it looked like the game was too fast for him. He looked like he was in control and he made a lot of really good decisions.

C.J. Fuller had seven carries for 51 yards

“That's things as coaches that we can tell on the sidelines. Obviously, we know the play call and we can see the defense so we know what needs to happen and what decisions need to be made and he did an excellent job of putting the ball where it's supposed to be and pulling it when he's supposed to and handing it off when he's supposed to. That's what we're really looking for in his first start so very, very pleased and that builds some confidence for him."

The game plan didn’t change because of Bryant’s inexperience.

"It wasn't something in the game plan where we felt 'Oh we have to change things for Kelly.' It was really for about all of our guys, we wanted to play fast,” he said. “It was getting rid of those motions and those shifts and some different things we've done in the past. We just wanted to get up there and line up and play. We worried about the tempo and guys just worried about their assignments. They came out and got off to a fast start so they did a good job."

The offense played 43 players, many of those on the offensive line.

"I think those offensive linemen deserve a lot of credit. We played about 14 offensive linemen and like I said earlier, there was the third team offensive line in there on a few of those last drives and three of those last five were for 80-plus yards,” Scott said. “That's something that we talked about: the standard doesn't change when we put new guys out there. The standard doesn't change, it stays the same. I give those guys a lot of credit up there."