Jeff Scott on the 2017 offense: Don't believe the lie

Diondre Overton has had a strong start to fall camp

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Aug 7, 2017, 1:09 PM

CLEMSON – Don’t believe the lie.

The Clemson offense will take the field against Kent St. next month with a bit of a new look. Gone are stalwarts like Deshaun Watson, Wayne Gallman, Jordan Leggett and Mike Williams. In their place will be a bevy of talented youngsters who are ready to prove there won’t be any drop-off.

Or, as Jeff Scott says, don’t buy the lie that Clemson’s offense won’t be any good. Scott met with the media after Saturday’s practice, and he said the coaches have challenged the offense to pick up right where last year’s team left off.

“Our coaches did a good job of challenging those guys and it's their time to step up. One thing when we met with the offense for the first meeting of fall camp, we put up the end of the year stats for the last six years,” Scott said. “Four of those six years were somewhere in the top 15 in total offense and scoring offense (12th in 2016, 11 in 2015, 61 in 2014, 9 in 2013, 9 in 2012 and 26 in 2011). We're very consistent so that was the message o the offensive guys.

“Don't buy the lie that's out there that, oh my gosh Deshaun Watson has left and Clemson's offense isn't going to be very good. Well, guess what, we've been very consistent for six years with a lot of different guys coming in here - different coordinators, different coaches and a lot of different players. Why is that? This is Clemson's offense and there's a standard that everybody plays to and all we need those guys to do is play to that same standard and be the best version of themselves and everything is going to work out. We've really challenged those guys to step up.”

Scott likes what he sees out of the offense through camp’s first three days.

“I'm really pleased. I think early on you're looking at big picture stuff. You're looking at the effort by the guys, attitude, body language, the tempo of practice. All of those things, I've been very pleased with. In the first three days, these guys have been very efficient. You're just trying to eliminate any guys that are slowing the group down - energy vampires that are high maintenance guys that are not giving effort. We don't have that and a big part of that is the culture that Coach Swinney and the player leaders have worked hard to create. What's really refreshing for me as a coach is when a bunch of those leaders left last year, the standard does not change.”

Scott might have the deepest receiver group he’s had since he’s been at Clemson, and that includes freshman Tee Higgins and sophomore Diondre Overton.

“Tee is one of those guys that's 198 pounds and looks like he's 178 pounds, and that's a good thing,” Scott said. “One day he'll be 225 pounds and look like he's 210. That's what those special ones are. It's something that he's worked on. It doesn't just happen. I think this summer was big for him and he'll continue to get better at it while he's here.

“Diondre Overton has really taken a big step. He's going to be a big, physical guy. For him, it's been the confidence of knowing what he's doing, the fundamentals, technique. I've seen improvement. He's probably been the most improved wideout of the entire group. That's really big for us.”

Two others are Cornell Powell and T.J. Chase.

“Cornell Powell, I've seen good progress with him. Just his change of direction, his knowledge, his confidence of the system,” Scott said. “”T.J. Chase is a guy that gets forgotten about, but I think he's going to be a guy this fall that's going to be a big part of what we do. He can run. He's tough. He's got some change of direction talent very similar to Hunter Renfrow.”