Anonymous opposing coach roasts Clemson over offensive coordinator change

The Athlon Sports 2023 National College Football Annual, a preview of all 133 FBS teams, has just been released. The writers tackled a number of marquee storylines to follow in 2023 and revealed their preseason top 25. But one of the more intriguing aspects of the magazine is the anonymous interviews done by various coaches throughout the college football landscape. And in one of the anonymous interviews, an opposing coach took a jab at the Clemson Tigers over their change at offensive coordinator.

“When you recruit against these guys, all you hear about is ‘family, family, family,’ and him going outside of his group and making the change at offensive coordinator isn’t about family. That’s accepting the reality you’re just another football program, and you have to do things like Alabama and Ohio State to stay relevant with those guys.”

“This is the biggest year for Dabo Swinney since he became a national title winner. They have so many new pieces and philosophical changes.”

One of the more intriguing off-season moves was Clemson hiring former TCU’s offensive coordinator Garrett Riley. Swinney made a move at offensive coordinator, removing Brandon Streeter, who took over the position less than a year ago after previous offensive coordinator Tony Elliott accepted a head coaching position at Virginia. Riley was brought in fresh off a fantastic run as TCU’s offensive coordinator, helping the Horned Frogs make it to the College Football Playoff championship game against Georgia.

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Swinney adding Garrett Riley can save ‘stale’ Clemson offense

While the anonymous was critical of the move, Fox Sports college football insider Bruce Feldman during a recent appearance on the Move the Sticks Podcast with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks, talked more positively on the change at offensive coordinator.

“I think so. But he (Swinney) made a big, bold move by grabbing Garrett Riley to shake up what was a really, really stale system there,” said Feldman. “They were one of the few programs that was not all in and getting transfers. I did a big story with my colleague Grace Rainer who covers Clemson, and talked to RGIII as well as Dan Orlovsky, who had both of those guys called Clemson games, about how stale the Clemson offense had gotten.

“DJ Uiagalelei, when I spoke to him a couple of months ago, he spoke in detail about some of the frustrations of playing in that system. Where you don’t feel like they’re taking chances; you don’t feel like they believe in you, the quarterback. I’ve seen Cade Klubnik in person; I think he’s very good.”